Preemptive Killing

Saturday, November 27, 2004

Preemptive Killing
Now that the election is over and Bush claims a "mandate" for his actions ... we can assume that there will be no course reversals. This means that we are firmly charted on a misguided and immoral course.

The Cheney/Rumsfeld/Bush doctrine of preemptive killing is simply wrong. It is wrong by any moral, ethical or civilized standard. Especially in this country we absolutely do not accept nor ever endorse any doctrine or practice of preemptive killing. There is nothing but the slipperiest of slopes between preemptively taking out Saddam and his family and loyalists (and inconveniently located innocent countrymen) and preemptively taking out a mafia or gang leader or other who "probably deserves it" or who was perhaps thinking about doing something bad.

I have no argument with our war with the Taliban or Osama. That was not preemptive. If we are attacked, we have every moral right to fight back. But as bad a man as Saddam may have been ... he did not attack the twin towers and he did not attack us. I fear the unavoidable escalation of our new involvement in the Middle East.

This will not sit well in history. This period may be known as the beginning of the Second Millennium Crusades. I hope our ancestors have the evolved morality to be disgusted with us for allowing it to happen.