Posted by
Young Democrat on Monday, July 20, 2009 11:14:55 AM
There has been a lot of talk about empathy and it's role in the judical process due to the hearings of Sonia Sotomayor, a nominee I support. What was so silly was the fact, that empathy like all human emotions play a role in our courts. From jury's decisions, to the jury selection process, to the election of judges, and sentencing decisions human emotion is a key component of law, to argue otherwise is just ignoring reality. But if empathy is such a battlefield in the court of public opinion, it's role on an actual battlefield is even more powerful.
When looking at war, the legalized killing of human beings in order to advance some nationalistic endevaor, it is important to look at our enemy. In this war, the "War on Terror" taking place in Iraq and Afghanistan, it's important to look at who a terrorist is. A terrorist, is to state the obvious, a person given to violence to bring about a real or precieved, political or religious objective. And when looking at terrorists, it's most important to remember that terrorists are made not born.
I don't like talking about religion much when discussing what seems to be secular topics of warfare, but it's a point worth remembering that all of us are creatures of God made perfect and in his image, from a child born to a family in New Hampshire to a family in Pakistan. God created all of us, flawed as we are, with the need for love and the ability to love. That famous quote "War is Hell" is true obvious to describe it physically but also in the religious sense, the killing of human life is the absoulte of hell not God.
I'm not a pacifist, having supported both the Afghanistan and Iraq wars and believing in seriously supporting Israel in a possible attack aganist Iran but the reality of human life must always be acknowledged. Everyday, different Arabic men and women attack Americans in their countries. And we should ask ourselves "Why?". To be sure the religion of Islam is at play, as those who are in abject proverty, rural areas, and hot climates are predisposed to more radical forms of religon. There is the natural sense of wanting your country to be run by it's own people, even if they are not ready for the challenge. And then there is that most rational and irrational desire for revenge, for each innocent human life lost due to a mistake, is capable of turning the most kind human soul into one seething with rage and guilt. Imagine for a moment, your loved ones dying due to a foreign country's mistake on your own land.
Does this mean we give up, retreat, surrender? No, but the reality is this war is not going to end with a peace accord, there will be not be a complete dismantling of radical and violent Islam, and there will be no black and white victory and defeat. Instead, we must clearly lay out our objectives, complete them, and leave. Terrorists are made not born, that will always be the reality and while we must defend the homeland, we must also look into the face of the enemy and realize who he is and why he is there.