THIS
BLOG WAS WRITTEN IN DECEMBER, 2014.
They beheaded him.
It made “Breaking News” like all the others before him. Was he a journalist, an
aid worker, or just a guy who saw abject suffering and it gnawed at him until
he decided to do something, to witness what horrors man continues to inflict on
his fellow man and to say, “At least with me, no more.” They cut his head off
all the while filming the entire brutal, ugly incident. They filmed and they
scoffed.
And
we react with revulsion at the barbarism and inhumanity, at the lack of moral
clarity in the act and the words. We cry out for “justice,” yet it isn’t
justice we seek, its vengeance. We demand retribution all the while ignoring
the blood that is on our own hands.
The
issue, we are told this week, is whether “enhanced interrogation techniques are
effective in stopping terrorism.” The issue, we are told, is given the nature
of our enemy, what is acceptable in a “war unique in the annals of history.” I respectfully
disagree. The real question is: does our conduct in war – and peace – keep with
the ideals of this country? Or, as Senator John McCain so eloquently put it,
“Does this represent who we were, who we are, and who we aspire to be?”
I
speak of the recently released report on CIA activities during the days following
9/11. In truth, I speak beyond that to the foundational notion that exceptional
nations act exceptionally. Americans understand in their gut that the reason
government must always vest “in the people” is because governments – like all
human – failed creatures that we are – institutions are capable of evil. As a
believer in the redemptive power of God’s grace. I understand all too well that
we are all fallen, we are all sinful, we are all capable of doing the “wrong”
thing at any given time. But, we are called to see, as President Lincoln,
described it, “the better angels” in ourselves. When we justify the use of
torture in the name of a “war” against anyone, we are no more moral, no less
evil, than those who attack us.
Fear
causes us to do extraordinary things. I remember those first weeks after 9/11
when we weren’t sure if more attacks were coming, when we weren’t sure even how
many were dead. There were rumors attacks; anthrax scares. And my immediate
reaction was one of bloodlust. “Kill them all,” I thought. That was hardly a
unique perspective.
It has
been that way throughout our collective history. In the Civil War we held
soldiers in horrendous prison camps. Sherman burned a path through Georgia and
the Carolinas; Lincoln usurped the Constitution and set aside habeas corpus
relief. In World War I, German-Americans were rounded up; Congress passed
numerous laws which denied basic First Amendment rights of dissent and speech.
World War II and we rounded up American citizens of Japanese descent. We put
them in “internment camps” and took their property. In the name of victory we bombed cities in
Germany: Cologne, Dresden, Hamburg, killing tens of thousands of innocent men,
women, and children, noncombatants. Against Japan we vaporized two whole
cities.
During
Korea we allowed Senator McCarthy and his band of red-baiters to destroy fellow
citizen’s lives by declaring them “communists.” Vietnam and we watched our air
force drop napalm on villages, Agent Orange defoliage on our own troops; we had
My Lai and other atrocities. No, our history is replete with our own acts of
barbarism.
Men
have been held at Guantanamo Bay for over thirteen years without charge. Our
government tortured men: waterboarding, “rectal” feeding, threats with sexual
attack, sleep deprivation, solitary confinement, cold and chained to a wall; in
the name of saving our country. But what is worth saving if we commit to that
type of behavior?
“Who
we aspire to be.” I have the utmost respect for Senator McCain. He knows full
well the pain and anguish of torture. In the hands of our Vietnamese enemy,
McCain was repeatedly beaten. He was hung by his arms until his shoulders came
out of socket. He was kept in solitary confinement, deprived of food and
medical care. Senator McCain says he would have done anything, said anything,
to stop the torture. Torture is just that – torture. I read in Louie
Zamperini’s amazing biography, “Unbroken,” of the horrendous treatment he
withstood at the hands of sadistic guards. Is that who we aspire to be?
British
philosopher Edmund Burke said “the only thing necessary for evil to succeed is
for a few good men to do nothing.” Evil is never overcome by evil. You overcome
evil by good. An editorial cartoon published on the day the CIA report was
released shows a grinning OBL in hell holding up a sign that says, “We win.”
“Who we aspire to be.”
For
the last six and a half years I have seen some of the worst in men … and some
of the best. I have had to rethink every preconceived notion I held about
justice, law, and my obligations as a Christian, a citizen, a human being. I
know that evil will never be overcome by evil. We must aspire to be like the Good
Samaritan, to show mercy to those in need and forgiveness to those who cause us
harm.
As
the German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer was led to the gallows, the SS doctor
observing his execution noted he had never seen a man so at peace as he faced
his death. “They may kill your body, but they can’t kill your soul.” Those
words are in the Gospel of Luke. They killed Bonhoeffer on a spring day in 1945
but his memory, his writings, his faith lives on. And his executioners? Long
forgotten. Who do we aspire to be?
