My sympathies are with the victims and their families of victims of the shootings yesterday, Monday, November 5, 2009, at Fort Leonard Wood, Texas. President Obama has declared a national mourning period from today forward thru Veterans Day.
The Muslim world is living and dying each day in a world dominated by the United States and its allies. Many in the Muslim world believe that their world is under attack by and is victimized by Western values and Western powers. The proponents of terrorism and suicide bombings in wrecking Muslim vengeance on the Western world and their own Muslim populations are into a victim mentality and justify the evil they do as necessary for the ultimate triumph of the Muslim world over the Western world.
The American people are led to believe that they are safe in their beds because of wars, occupations of foreign lands, and drone attacks. As a United States citizen, I do not believe I am made safer by the killing done in my behalf. On the other hand, I can not wash my hands of what my country is doing because I live in a republic of laws and elected representatives. The blood of innocents is on my hands.
I do not see my government's current efforts as helpful nor ultimately productive. Drones with pin point accuracy launched by the United States are fired at targets in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. The target selection is often done in haste with personnel of the enemy often in transit and using the screen of villagers for protection. Innocent men, women, and children are killed in these attacks which presumably have a degree of success in killing actual terrorists who are at war with the United States and its allies. Technology permits my government and enemies of my government to kill indiscriminately. I know technology is not the enemy, but the servant of those who would do war on one another.
When civilians died on September 11, 2001, in the World Trade Center attacks,it confirmed that we are all combatants and are asked to take sides. Where is the end of war to be found in a world gone mad?
I find myself asking for spiritual leaders for the Muslim world who could help Muslims embrace peace instead of revenge. I find myself asking for spiritual leaders for the Western world who could help non-Muslims embrace peace instead of revenge.
I advocate for restorative justice in how the Muslim and Western worlds interact. We need to step back from the ledge of pursuing solutions to relationship ills between people by resort to violence.
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