restoring our biblical and constitutional foundations
Keeping Things in Perspective
The abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib was nothing compared to what Saddam did to his own people. And pictures of naked Iraqi POWs certainly pale in comparison to the gruesome video of Nick Bergs beheading. Throughout the duration of this war on terror, we have been told to keep things in perspective.
To help us along, pro-war columnists have reminded us repeatedly of the evil we are facing. National Reviews James Robbins had this to say:
Bergs murder plainly illustrates the most salient distinction between the Coalition and the terrorists. The outrages at Abu Ghraib were not sanctioned by higher authorities, and were halted when they were discovered. An investigation followed, and those who committed the acts may be facing jail time – a court will determine that. The terrorists on the other hand killed Nicholas Berg while executing their official policy. They justified the ritualistic slaughter of an innocent man as an act of revenge.
Andrew Holt, in a May 14 article, wrote:
The horrific slaughter of Nick Berg should be compulsory viewing for those who seem to have forgotten who our real enemy is. … They started their terror long before the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib, and long before the liberation of Iraq or Afghanistan. The murder of Nick Berg is just the latest atrocity of an enemy of matchless savagery, and many more people will yet die in this war with a rising militant Islam. Its time more in the media realized just who our greatest enemy really is – and trust me, it isnt America or a handful of its prison guard bullies.
Joel C. Rosenberg, writing for Jewish World Review, threw in his two cents when Michael Berg blamed his sons death on the sins of George Bush and Donald Rumsfeld:
Whats disturbing is how few people truly understand the nature and threat of evil posed by radical Islam. Yet to misunderstand the nature of evil is to risk being blindsided by it. We were blindsided by evil on 9/11. Perhaps Nick Berg and his family were blindsided by an evil they didnt fully appreciate. We dare not make the same deadly mistake.
The neocons have taken a rather bold step. No longer are they satisfied in classifying this conflict as a war on terror; they want us to believe that this is a war on evil itself.
Let us assume for the moment that the hawks are correct in saying that our war in Iraq actually has something to do with the attacks of September 11, 2001. Let us also assume that militant Islam is the greatest foreign threat the United States has ever faced. Is it still possible that an even greater evil lurks right under our noses?
To date, the war in Iraq has claimed the lives of over 700 U.S. soldiers. Conservative estimates place the number of Iraqi dead at over 10,000. Still, these figures are hardly staggering when compared to the carnage that has occurred right here at home.
During the 14 months our attention has been focused on Iraq, over one million Americans were executed for the crime of being an inconvenience. Im referring, of course, to abortion.
Amid all the commentaries and discussions on the evil of Islam, the evil of terrorism, the evil of Saddam Hussein, the evil of WMD and the evil of treasonous Americans who dare to criticize the president, the evil of abortion has been virtually ignored. While conservatives who claim to have this countrys best interests at heart ranted about the violence committed against Americans in Iraq, over a million American children were butchered simply because they were unwanted. And pundits like Robbins, Holt and Rosenberg want to lecture me on what evil is?
If we really want to be motivated to do something about the evil in the world, maybe we need to see more pictures of babies being ripped from their mothers wombs in small, easy-to-flush pieces. Perhaps if we saw the video of an innocent child having its head crushed by a doctors forceps, we might be able to keep things in perspective.
Yes, the violent images from Iraq remind us of the evil in the world, but even the most radical Muslim terrorists cannot claim responsibility for taking over one million lives every year. For a real perspective on evil, its time we start looking for it where it occurs on a daily basis right in our own backyard.
May 19, 2004
Lee Shelton resides with his wife in Minneapolis, Minn., and is the founder and editor of EverVigilant.net. He is a self-described paleoconservatarian someone adhering to the founding conservative and libertarian principles that built this nation of statesand hopes to return to the days when government was small and elected officials actually sought to protect the inalienable, God-given rights of the American people. Lee is currently working on a book that addresses a wide range of controversial issues affecting American politics today: from airport security to abortion, from the Supreme Court to Southern heritage. He can be reached via e-mail at editor@evervigilant.net.
