Human sacrifice: No.
It’s not just for backward heathens dancing around volcanoes, as Keith Olbermann points out at Crooks & Liars.
My post below supports the Olbermann option. Withdraw our troops. Keith provides the moral reason; I tried the strategic.
Yet we all know what Bush will say next week.
How long will we grant him any right to spill more blood? What part of ‘public servant’ elevates him to some mythical level of untouchability?
I don’t accept that Americans can’t take the losses of a real war against real enemies. Iraqis aren’t my enemies, nor are Arabs or Muslims. Even most of the world’s terrorists don’t target our citizens. They fight different battles. And some for valid reasons.
It is the wrongful deaths of human beings I believe we must be opposed to, people undefined by their place of birth. I do not recall the Messiah whose name our president invokes indicating American lives were more valuable than Iraqi lives.
‘Thou shall not kill’ presented no exceptions. And stopping the killing is no defeat.
It remains a distinction between those who value life and live it morally, and those who cannot measure up to those high standards.
Only those with lesser values will call it defeat. And only a tiny percentage of them will back their conviction to win by taking up arms to do the deed they think defines victory.
The dishonor of life is surrender and defeat. The way forward’s not lower, but higher, if victory is the goal.
If Bush cannot lead us there, he is no leader. He is only a mime repeating a routine within a tired old box.
It’s up to us to lead now, as if our values matter, as if life matters. Bush’s new way is no way at all.
January 3rd, 2007 at 7:29 am
We here in Montana are organizing actions to be implemented the day after Bush makes his announcement. Please consider organizing something in your area and spreading the word as quickly as possible. The Moment is upon us, let’s not let this contemptuos disregard for democracy go unprotested.