Murder and Survival

"I don't care what does it: I don't care if it's the tension, the fear, the 'enemy'… it's murder. We are occupied by murderers."

--River

I sat and read her account of the Marine shooting the Iraqi in the Fallujah mosque in horror and could hardly believe it was real. I seriously was thinking, is this real? Could this be made up?

Then I followed the link she provides to Yahoo news' account of it. Apparently, a group of Marines entered a Mosque where some wounded Iraqis had been left behind, argued about whether one was faking death or not, and then shot him.

" 'He's dead now,' a Marine is heard saying...

Sites reported a Marine in the same unit had been killed just a day earlier when he tended to the booby-trapped dead body of an insurgent.

NBC reported that the Marine seen shooting the wounded Iraqi had himself been shot in the face the day before, but quickly returned to duty."

I don't know much about war. Okay, basically nothing. But there are enough clues in that Yahoo article to make me think this is not as simple a case as it sounds. At least for me, when I try to put myself in that Marine's shoes, I don't know what would happen. A lot of people argue that killing is never okay. And, on the surface, their argument makes perfect sense. God made human life sacred; He made us to live, not to kill and be killed.

But can you really say that if someone's being murdered outside your front door, you should do nothing? Spare the murderer because to do otherwise makes you like him? Let him kill, and possibly keep killing?

Now I realize the situation in the mosque is not the same. Here, it's more an issue of your own survival--do you risk it and hope the other guy is friendly or dead or not booby-trapped? It's more than your own survival at stake; it's the survival of the men with you, who's lives are just as valuable as yours and the Iraqi on the ground.

Who's life do you choose?

I'm also not claiming the guy did everything right. He does sound indifferent to death he just caused and he probably is. It's a pretty hard state to avoid if you get into war--not that you shouldn't fight it, resist becoming cold-blooded, but you can pretty well guarantee that it's going to be a continual struggle, a constant danger.

I don't know what the Marine should have done. I don't know what I would have done. I just don't believe it's as simple as murder, or necessarily comparable with a psychopathic killer, as River does.

I will say this. I have no personal experience with war, as I said. In that department, she very definitely wins out over me. I don't know what it is like for her right now, living in the midst of all that. I would think scary beyond belief. I just think there is more to the shooting than she has perhaps considered.

I think Owen West and Phillip Carter have some thought-provoking stuff to say on the subject, especially as regards the Iraqi's killing compared to that of Margaret Hassan.

First love

What I wanted to say was that I was trying to focus on my First Love, but I was afraid it'd come across as holier-than-thou, which is not how I meant it. Honestly, it encourages me to speak in a positive way about what I should be focusing on (even if I'm not doing a great job of focusing on it right now). I think it's a good way to help me refocus.

I've been neglecting Him horribly, and sometimes I feel it. Sometimes I'm too hardhearted for that, admittedly, but sometimes--sometimes--I remember and feel the lack of Him. Miss Him a little bit.

My parents tell me that they want me to get married, that they want a "good" life for me, meaning a married life. They say that I don't seem to think positively enough about my chances of getting married. But honestly, the way I see it, yes, I want to get married, and maybe I'm not "positive enough" about my chances (meaning I'm not absolutely sure it'll happen), but what makes sense to me is to be open to whatever life God gives me, to focus on Him, devote myself to Him and whatever blessings He chooses to add to my life He'll add. That I think is the beauty--and the scariness--of submission. That I give my life up to Him and let Him decide what to give me, let Him decide what's best for me. And then I truly will have a good life, by the only standard that matters.

Am I wrong to think this way? Am I being too idealistic or naive? Maybe, but I think I'm also right. Idealism and naivete are not always off-track. Sometimes there's a reason for them, at least for the idealism. God wants His best for us, and the world may think it's idealistic, but God is a God of perfection, no? Of ideals, you might say. If anyone can reach the ideal--true perfection--He can.

And He can, because He is.
(Matt 6:25-34)