When I heard Glenn Beck say that we have captured the second in command in the Taliban (although he said that the man was the second in command of Al Qaeda) and that we should "shoot him in the head" I heard a huge snapping or clicking sound in my head.
I have long been mystified as to why so many people want to be mean to terrorists--torture them--lock them away for ever--no trial no due process no nothing except a lot of pain and agony.
But I understand it, now.
It's just sadism.
It's taking pleasure in inflicting pain on people--even if it doesn't help us do anything constructive about the terrorism of which we are so, well, terrified. We know, in fact, that the way we have treated captured terrorists has created support for them and their brothers and sisters still in field.
And speaking of snapping to something...this whole thing about insisting that we are at "war" with terrorists, that these are not criminal acts but acts of war is legitimizing the people who do the terrorist stuff.
Al Qaeda wants Muslims to see them as knights errant, roaming the world to confront the infidel. And they aren't that, at all. They have hijacked Islam and set out to re-configure it as a vehicle to justify their violence that is bent on setting up reactionary theocracies.
And we are helping them by buying into their narrative. They are actually criminals. They are criminals on a grand scale but they are still criminals. They are not soldiers, they do not comprise an army. They are just plain criminals.
It should not be forgotten, though, that their criminality is a response to how the West has controlled and exploited the Middle East for decades. We are not "innocent" victims of this criminality. We need to start implementing policies in that region of the world--throughout the world--based on simplicity, harmony, integrity, community and equality.
When we do that we will have a lot less to worry about from either soldiers or criminals, and national security will be something we can take for granted.
