[Updated below.]
Reading all the usual suspects on the death of al-Zarqawi, I find that my reaction is not what I expected.
I once thought I’d be glad at the notion that he’s finally burning in hell, but I’m not. Al-Zarqawi’s death is a good thing for America, for the war, and many lives are saved by it. To those who say, like Nick Berg’s father, that it will “reignite yet another wave of revenge” I say grow up. This isn’t a McCoy vs. Hatfield situation, this is an ideologically based war. The people who believe in jihad want to kill us because of what we believe and how we live. They’ve been saying it for decades and their actions show that they believe it.
Islam is Not a Religion of Pacifists
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, 1942Islam’s jihad is a struggle against idolatry, sexual deviation, plunder, repression, and cruelty. The war waged by [non-Islamic] conquerors, however, aims at promoting lust and animal pleasures. They care not if whole countries are wiped out and many families left homeless. But those who study jihad will understand why Islam wants to conquer the whole world. All the countries conquered by Islam or to be conquered in the future will be marked for everlasting salvation. For they shall live under [God’s law]. …
Those who know nothing of Islam pretend that Islam counsels against war. Those [who say this] are witless. Islam says: Kill all the unbelievers just as they would kill you all! Does that mean that Muslim should sit back until they are devoured by [the unbelievers]? Islam says: Kill the [the non-Muslims], put them to the sword and scatter [their armies]. Does this mean sitting back until [non-Muslims] overcome us? Islam says: Kill in the service of Allah those who may want to kill you! Does this mean that we should surrender [to the enemy]? Islam says: Whatever good there is exists thanks to the sword and in the shadow of the sword! People cannot be made obedient except with the sword! The sword is the key to paradise, which can be opened only for holy warriors!
There are hundreds of other [Koranic] psalms and hadiths [sayings of the prophet] urging Muslims to value war and to fight. Does all that mean that Islam is a religion that prevents men from waging war? I spit upon those foolish souls who make such a claim.
What part of “we hate you” don’t the Michael Bergs of this world understand? Their sort of magical thinking baffles me; that somehow we can make the jihadis like us. The moral equivalence they engage in is sickening.
We’ve killed someone who would gladly have killed us all. Lives were saved by this action. Justice was served. And yet I’m still not rejoicing because Jesus died for him too. And for all the other jihadis would would gladly kill us. The choice is to fight evil or be overcome by it. I believe we’re doing the right thing. C.S. Lewis’ essay, Why I Am Not A Pacifist in The Weight of Glory
But I say to you, Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who despitefully use you and persecute you, so that you may become sons of your Father in Heaven. For He makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
(Matthew 5:44-45)
Update: Fraubudgie, to whom I often link over at RedHotCuppaPolitics for CAII posts, has an excellent live-blog of the press conference and the glum mainstream media. It’s amusing how, every time we make public progress toward winning, there is that brief window where their baffled rage just shines out. They just can’t stand it, and they try so hard to hide their disappointment. And while I won’t celebrate Zarqawi’s death, I’m definitely NOT above laughing out loud at the MSM’s predicament of how to spin this to take away as much support for the war as possible. They have some kind of cognitive dissonance that causes them to be unaware – I hope – that this response supports the enemies who would kill and enslave them.
Update again: Ian at Expose the Left has video of Berg’s Fox News interview, where he blames Bush for his son’s beheading and for all those Zarqawi killed. That’s truly bizarre. I can understand not wanting to rejoice at another person’s death, no matter how evil that person is. I can understand praying for that person’s repentance – to pray for people like Zarqawi is at the heart of what Christianity is all about. But Berg is not a Christian, and this is not a matter of faith. This is just sad. The man has lost his mind. He personifies Bush Derangement Syndrome.
Linked to Stop the ACLU’s Friday Free for All
Death is a punishment that is hard to deal with, even for our enemies. Reform, otherwise called repentance, is preferrable to death even for the most vile of sinners. I am not saying that everyone will reform or repent. Some are just not willing. That is why we must stand up and fight against those that are a threat to our freedom and our families. His death is sad but at the same time it bring’s us closer to victory. I wonder who has taken his place already though.
I agree, it does bring us closer to victory. I’m not celebrating, neither am I grieving.
No matter who takes his place, he will not have the experience, background and support Zarqawi had. And we’ve killed so many of Zarqawi’s top people in the last few months that a relative newbie will be the one who steps up, which is certainly to our benefit. A commenter on the news made an interesting point: on the death of Hitler, there were not mass additions to Nazism. Seeing the people in Iraq dancing in the street when they heard the news, I’m very encouraged.
For man, victory will never be accomplished IF he is not pursuing glory for God.
Thank you for this post. We need more Christian bloggers openly proclaiming what both you and Randy Thomas (www.randythomas.org) have said. I, too, do not celebrate this man’s death. I find it sad that much of our country does. He may have reaped his consequences, but maybe, just maybe, in those final seconds he called on Jesus. Not likely, no. But, as you said, Jesus died for al-Zarqawi just as he did for you and me.
…. First of all….
To the author of the article I read entitled ‘I don’t celebrate the death of al-Zarqawi’, I would say this.
Who has convinced you that the jihadi’s hate us … as you say ….”The people who believe in jihad want to kill us because of what we believe and how we live.” Could it be, perhaps, the policies of the United States that affects them that has drawn their hatred upon us? Is it possible that the United States has some culpability in the whole matter be it right or wrong?. Why hate the United States when there are so many countries that have the same social customs as the United States. Well, perhaps the bombs that rain down upon them and the airplanes dropping them all say “made in the USA” on them. Don’t kid yourself or be flattered by their hatred. They hate America because of the policies of America. There is a direct connection there.
To joegb I say this….. I agree that we must fight. We must arm ourselves with weapons and go after those that would kill us. Its not the thing Jesus would say to do, I’m sure, but then again, we are not Jesus. Don’t assume that with the death of Mr. Nasty we are any closer to victory. Let us not forget that ole Mr. nasty started a terror group of his own ( tawhid wal jihad) that was a parallel group with osama bin ladens group. They shared the concept of Jihad but not the means and methods of waging Jihad to victory. The two groups had a meeting of the minds, with Abu musab al-Zarqawi changing the name of his group to basicly what in english amounts to “the base of jihad in the land of the two rivers “. With his death perhaps now bin ladens group may assert more control over the direction of the war. Perhaps the next leader will be more of bin Ladens “yes man” than a wayward step child. Bin laden is a hard core jihadi and whahabist but he is pragmatic nonetheless. To bring the Shite and Sunnis against American troops would be a disaster for US. Getting the Americans out of the region is priority number 1 Osama. Shites are considered bad Muslims in Bin Ladens circles but he knows now is not the time to deal with the Shites. First the infidels, then the “bad Muslims”. Al-Zarqawi’s attitude was a more hardline approach ‘put them both first and lets deal with everything’. The death of al-Zarqawi does nothing to bring the war closer to an end or victory any nearer. In fact it may even
prolong it. The war may get worse on a global scale no matter what steps we may take… American political moves often backfire; this war may be such a case. That having been said al-Zarqawi had to be killed. I for one am glad to see the back of him. I am perplexed at why the picture of his bloated face was actually matted and framed at the press conference announcing his death. I have never seen a photograph framed before at a press conference like that. Matted yes but never have I seen one framed (is someone planning on hanging that thing somewhere and saving it?).
To Laura I would say… do not think that the next one in al-Zarqawi’s group to step up is going to be some newbie to hatred and terror. he may be even more experianced, He may be smarter, he may be more patient. while it is true that al-Zarqawi’s group may well be gutted and may wither on the vine and die away, a replacement group will spring forth from its ashes. Laura… as to Hitler…Hitler was not a religion he was a politition. Nazism was not Hitler and Nazism was not a religion. We Americans are not fighting a man, a nation or a political party. We are fighting an idea, a religious vison or ideal. We may find that, like the Romans found out, that taking over a nation or beating down an insurection is not the same as beating a religious movement. We may find we have no more luck with the jihadis than the Romans had stamping out Judaism or Christianity. A Nazi would never rejoice over the death of other Nazis. A Jihadi looks for death and loves it. This is the extreme danger the jihadis pose. Laura there is no fair comparison to be made of the Nazis to the Jihadis except that we, as Americans fought them both. As to the Iraqis you see dancing in the street. Lets assume that they are Shia Iraqis (the “so called good guys”). I would dance if I were them too and so would you. However if we were them we would most likely agree as do the majority of shia in Iraq, that killing Americans with machine guns and IED’s and car bombs is not terror at all in fact it is justified. We would also even more so believe that Jews are dogs fit for slaughter. so don’t be too encouraged by their dancing.
To Samantha I would say that is exactly what al-Zarqawi thought he was doing. I guess it all depends which religion one belongs to as to the path one must chose towards that glory for God.
To Amanda don’t think for one minute he gave up on his religion at the last second. How the man lived for 52 minutes after having two 500 pounders explode within 15 feet of him is amazing. He even tried to roll off the stretcher perhaps to hasten his demise. His last mumblings seemed to be to himself about Allah. (all standard Jihadi teachings). This war is far from over and its far from won. I just hope that Bush does not wake up one day thinking Vietnam has a few WMD’s we may need to do something about. Because if he invaded them tomorrow we would be amazed in a years time at all the Asian looking jihadis running all over the place……..
Vietnam….Iraq…now there’s a comparison to make……..daily body counts……troop reductions…lights at the end of the tunnels, pullouts. Look for an Iraqi versian “TET offensive”.
….by the way….where’s all the good war protest music????? where’s today’s “fortunate son” or ‘Spirit in the sky”
Thank you for your time and Im sorry about any mispelled words.
I do not wish to be perceived as being disrespectful to anyone here.
Thank you
Kevin
Thank you for taking the time to comment. Kevin, what has convinced me that the jihadis hate us based on ideology not in retaliation for any policy is their own words. The media chooses to not report such things, but you can easily find out what they are saying about their own motives. I did. Here are some examples to get you started:
And here are two more enlightening quotes:
Zarqawi’s replacement is in fact an unknown, a relative newbie. His death, if nothing else, slows down the ongoing murders of Iraqis by jihadists.
The main thing this war has in common with Vietnam is a treasonous media and political left who will do everything they can to ensure we lose. The Tet Offensive, which was a tremendous military victory for the US, is a perfect example. I do agree the war is far from over. But we are much closer to winning than the MSM would have you believe. Even the enemy agrees, saying this back in May:
The enemy admits that their policies and actions are media oriented. The only way they can win is if we surrender because of media/political pressure. In short, they are playing us. It’s a PR war, and on that front they are winning, as your comments that imply we brought this on ourselves illustrate. No, it’s not over, you are correct about that. But all the objective facts, up to and including what the enemy says, prove that we’re winning.
Laura; Hey, thanks for the reply I see the The comments you quote. I do not know the context of the quotes , some such as hezbollah may have been directed to israel but it does not matter. they say what they say and they mean it. Let us not lump all muslims togeather. most dont followthe path to jihad. I do not deny that these jihadis hate us but we are hated because of what we do. look at the policies of america since 1945 by way of the middle east. Not a happy time to be sure. is it your intention to kill every muslim in the world? The simple fact is we should have never invaded Iraq and Bush knew it. Thats the worst part of it all. As for the new guy taking over as MSNBC is reporting ************”Initially, the officials told NBC, the name al-Mujahir did not ring any bells in their organizations and suggested it could be a previously unknown nom de guerre for a previously known member of al-Qaida or someone who has risen rapidly in the organization in recent weeks, as a result of the coalition’s success in taking down higher-ranking members.’*********** dont forget that the war on terror existed before the war in iraq was started. We would have done well to stay out of Iraq. Now we foment hatred in the arab world. In a worse case scenario Iran develops a bomb
and Pakistan in toppled by jihadis. Then a supply of bombs falls into terrorist hands. The fact is we are in Iraq now and what to do from this point on is the imortant thing. I think we should pull out sector by sector and let them work it out themselves. The fact is 85% of them hate is and most of the ones that like us are kurds. The sunnis hate us because we messed up their little party. but they need us to protect them from the wrath of the shites now in power. The shites hate us but need us to protect them while they learn how to march and shoot straight. Meanwhile at night they are kidnapping Sunnis and torturing them in underground prisons and since we keep them in power, we by default, support it as well. so because they both hate and need us they resent us. This makes our soilders contemptous of them and we have even more trouble. Meanwhile our hands are not clean either. as wetorture people and support terror we lose credibility in the arab and western world. and our allies fade and coalitions form can you see moderate arab governments entering into deals with China? Russia? Ukraine??Korea?? Korea….Oil money to buy food to trade for weapons. I could go on and on…… Thanks again for the reply
Don’t bother going on and on. First of all, you’re not going to convince me that it’s all America’s fault, which is what you evidently have bought into. Frankly it’s not worth my time to debate it with you. Second, I didn’t lump all Muslims together, and I don’t appreciate the inference that I did. Third, I believe our presence in Iraq is an excellent idea for a number of reasons, all of which I have stated in other posts on this blog, and none of which I will bother to list yet again because it would be a colossal waste of your time and mine. Why should I try to convince you, or you to convince me? Move on… You’ve picked your side, I’ve picked mine, and history will play out however it plays out.
Kevin, I moved your last comment into the moderated queue until – or if – I decide to respond to it. In the meantime I’m not going to leave it here unchallenged. I told you that I’m not going to debate this with you – or anyone else – because I believe that it’s a waste of time. If that changes, I’ll reply here and email you to let you know. I don’t mind debating a point or two occasionally but this is a matter of an entire world view. If you’re looking for that kind of debate, many other websites will be glad to provide you with it. But not here.
You said “Im not looking for a response, Im just stating my views” – and you have the right to free speech to state your views. I am under no obligation to host your free speech; you might want to get a blog of your own for that. I recommend wordpress.com or else blogger.com.
I understand.
Thank you
Kevin