Sunday, June 11, 2006

"...an act of asymmetrical warfare waged against us."

This is elegant.

Committing suicide is now an act of war. Not as part of any attempt to injure or kill anyone else, but simply following through on the decision to end one's life.

Amazing.
I'm trying to square that thought with these lines found further down in the story.

The US military said the men's bodies were being treated "with the utmost respect".
White House spokesman Tony Snow said Mr Bush had "expressed serious concern" at the deaths.
"He also stressed that it was important to treat the bodies humanely and with cultural sensitivity," he said.
I dunno.
Utmost respect. Cultural sensitivity.

Maybe if we honor the corpses enough it will ameliorate the disrespect shown by branding these suicides as acts of war. Hmm...

Warriors no longer animate these bodies.

Yes. That's it! If they were a garden-variety suicides, then we might in some way be responsible. But acts of war vindicate us of any wrongdoing, while honoring our declared enemies at the same time.

Whew! I feel all better. What a relief!
I was about to imagine that US policies and conditions at Gitmo had something to do with it.

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