War for Justice

Say what you want about Karl Rove. I think that he's a political whiz, maybe even a genius. But this quote illustrates that he is less concerned with the well being of his neighbors than that of his party's agenda.

“Liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers,” Rove said Wednesday night. “Conservatives saw the savagery of 9/11 and the attacks and prepared for war."

He goes on to say:

“Conservatives saw what happened to us on 9/11 and said we will defeat our enemies. Liberals saw what happened to us and said we must understand our enemies.”

From MSNBC
First of all, can you defeat an enemy without understanding them? I don't think so, especially in the fluid and ever changing world of terrorism. Understanding them is key. And quite possibly, understanding them might reveal alternative manners of defeating them. Yes, other than killing them. Did you know that might be possible? And these ways might actually be a whole lot cheaper than running the war machine the US has.

But there is a bigger pain I see in his quote. What Rove wants us to see is things in black and white. They are wrong, and we are right. The only option is war. If you're against war you are weak and against due justice. Simply, peace is stupid. Perhaps you've seen the adverts for the tshirt that has a peace sign on it with the caption "Footprint of the American Chicken". What we have in some parts of our society is the connection being made in people's minds between peace and cowardice. This is a very dis-heartening thing, that people will think it cowardly to want to not have people being killed and killing for whatever reason, whether it's here in the US or overseas. A person who does not desire peace is one who desires war. And let's not mistake war for justice. They are not the same.

A strong response is needed to September 11th, but I'm not convinced that war is the only way. But even if war is necessary to bring justice, we still need to desire peace over all.

Hear the words I sing,
War's a horrid thing,
So I sing, sing, sing,
Ring a-ling a-ling.
- Private Baldrick (Black Adder 4)