Wednesday, March 22, 2006

 

Reason And Passion - Politics And Goodness

"Sometimes we are forced to chose between worse and worst" - that is the thought that ran through my mind when I read this post from Joe Carter. Joe is discussing the impending trial and execution of Abdul Rahman in Afghanistan (post-US invasion Afghanistan) for the "crime" of converting from Islam to Christianity. Joe is understandably outraged.

This may be the most difficult post I have ever written because I too am outraged, in the same sense that I am outraged ANYTIME Christians are persecuted, but I must disagree vehemently with Joe when he says
The persecution of Rahman is evidence that we have failed in our efforts in Afghanistan.
I must go even further, perhaps than I should, given that Joe is a man of long and honorable military service and I am not, but I think Joe misses something very important when he says
Did American troops give their lives removing the repressive Taliban government only for us to replace it with Taliban-lite?
AMERICAN TROOPS GAVE THEIR LIVES TO PROTECT OTHER AMERICANS AND SECURE THEIR SAFETY - anything after that is a by-product at best.

Do I think religious persecution of this sort is an evil? - ABSOLUTELY - but to use our military might to enforce such a moral standard on another nation is an equal evil. The use of our military is justified only in the defense of our nation and in that it would appear we have succeeded. If the Afghani's have chosen a repressive Taliban-lite for themselves, it is repugnant, but I for one do not want to become the imperialistic power we are so often accused of being to prevent it.

Should our nation use all the other tools in its international relations arsenal to interfere, prevent and mitigate this gross violation of human rights? - FOR SURE, but it is definitely a job for the State Department and not for the military.

I guess what I am saying is this - the military did its job and did it well. It toppled the Taliban and it made America safer. That was its mission and mission accomplished.

Then there is the whole "hearts-and-minds" thing; that job remains undone - agreed, but how to do it?

I have a Christian friend that visited Afghanistan a few months after the "war" was over. He even met with Karzai. His comment was that Karzai's hold was on only a very limited part of the nation. Frankly the place lacks a sufficient infrastructure for any government to be very effective - it remains very tribal. If things are as Joe paints them in this paragraph
The persecution of Rahman is evidence that we have failed in our efforts in Afghanistan. We weren't even able to instill a love of freedom into President Hamid Karzai, who has refused to intervene in the case. "Within years of another President intervening on his behalf when fascists overran his country," says John Coleman, "Mr. Karzai has decided that fascism is the way to go."
Then Karzai's decision to turn to fascism is because he had no choice to retain power. Would it be any better if we used military force to prop up his regime? But based on my friend's observations, Karzai is powerless in the face of things like the Rahman situtaion, not purposefully fascistic.

My passion is that the trial and possible execution of Abdul Rahman is a heinous and evil thing, but my reason reminds me that we succeeded in making America safer which means our primary mission was as success. If it were mine to IMPOSE goodness on the world then this would not happen, but the politics of region seem to make it inevitable. In light of those poltics of the region perhaps making America safer is the best we can hope for and all the success we can achieve.

Now it's up to the diplomats, and it appears to me they are doing a reasonable job, despite what Michelle Malkin and her links seems to say, The Corner transcribes a State Department briefing in which we learn some very important facts

  1. This is not a criminal law matter, but a civil one. Think how important that is, the Afghani government is not yet sanctioning anything other than acknolwedging the existence of Islamic Law as some what authoritative in the state. You know, when our nation was founded the precise place of church law had to be worked out in the court too.
  2. The State Department is asking for transparency in the trial process and the Afghani government seems to want to grant it.

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