'Latest atrocity proves this war is religious'

[Memnoch]

An interesting article, from the Sydney Morning Herald. I couldn't quite work out how he came up with the title, but the gist of his article touches a nerve, doesn't it.

EDIT: I worked out how he came to his title, and have linked to it...

Latest atrocity proves this war is religious By Paul Sheehan June 21, 2004 . Paul Johnson jnr was butchered for you. Pictures of his decapitated body, with his severed head on his chest, were posted on the internet in the early hours of Saturday (Sydney time) for your benefit. So was the message that "the infidel got his fair treatment". . You were the target. The symbolism was carefully considered. The 49-year-old American civilian, kidnapped in Saudi Arabia, was dressed in an orange jumpsuit similar to those worn by prisoners of the US military in Guantanamo Bay. The method of execution was also considered for maximum impact. . The images were quickly placed on the internet to leverage the enormous power of the mass media, to instil fear, to intimidate enemies, to enlist recruits for the global conflict now underway. In this conflict, violence flows through the old barriers created by borders, armies, codes of honour. . For such murderers, respect for international law is a weakness to be exploited. Who needs armies or military victories when murder and the mass media can cast so long a shadow? . We are not in a "war against terror". That is US Government spin. Stripped down to its basics, beneath all the rhetoric, we are witnessing a religious war, the one foreshadowed by professors Philip Jenkins and Samuel Huntington. . We also have the benefit of a recent dispatch from the incomparable Robert Kaplan of The Atlantic Monthly, author of many books but most notably The Coming Anarchy, published five years ago. . Kaplan went with the US Marines when they launched an assault on the Iraqi city of Fallujah on April 5 (five days after four American civilians were dismembered by a mob in the city). He attended the final briefings on the eve of battle, when issues were compressed to their fundamentals: . "Gents, let me tell you what this is really about," said Lieutenant-Colonel Brennan Byrne. "It's about killing shitheads. The CG [Commanding General] has changed the Op Order from 'capture or kill' the enemy to 'kill or capture'. He wants the emphasis on 'kill'. . "You'll be facing interesting folk. Guys who fought in Grozny, in Afghanistan, guys who aren't all that interested in giving up. I made everyone grow moustaches for the sake of cultural sensitivity when we left Kuwait. Now I want you to shave them off. We're going on the offensive." . Kaplan continued: "Byrne stood up, signalling the end of the briefing. Everyone else stood up and shouted, 'Ooh-rah!'." . The Marine battle cry. When Kaplan attended the final pre-battle meeting, he found it was not about tactics: "Captain Smith assembled Bravo Company in a V formation in front of the red company flag. He told his 150 Marines that they should be grateful for the opportunity now given them. Then a chaplain, Navy Lieutenant Wayne Hall, blessed Bravo: . 'Today is Palm Sunday. The day of Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, where he broke the bounds of hell. Tonight commences your triumphal entry into Falluja, a place in the bounds of hell. This is a spiritual battle, and you Marines are the tools of mercy.' . "As Hall invoked the Holy Spirit, the Marines all dropped to one knee and bowed their heads, removing their bush or field caps as they did so." . I don't think many people, on either side of the Iraq war debate, have ever believed that the core impetus for war was finding weapons of mass destruction. The real reasons were more visceral. They were tacit, never explicit, but widely understood. . That's why I don't think the sound and fury about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, or events in the Abu Ghraib prison, carry remotely as much weight in the electorate as they do in the media. Compared with the underlying issues, they are trivial. . The Australian electorate knows the occupation of Iraq may be partly a shambles but, until Saddam was toppled, life for about 20 million Iraqis was an endless accommodation to psychotic tyranny. The electorate now knows that Americans have been cruel in Abu Ghraib prison, but also knows that before US forces arrived Abu Ghraib was a murder factory, where torture and execution were practised on an industrial scale. Much of the electorate will also have noticed that the roar of criticism directed at Western governments contrasts spectacularly with the silence of the lambs while Saddam was in power. . The person who I think comes closest to the essential truth about Iraq is Byrne, and most Australians would probably agree with his assessment of why the Americans are there. And the decapitation of Paul Johnson provides the latest reminder of the visceral subtext in which electoral politics is being practised this year. . In this context, whether Australians believe Mark Latham is the person to confront medievalism, or has already flinched in the face of it, may determine the coming federal election. . Source: www.smh.com.au .

[ 06-24-2004, 10:03 AM: Message edited by: Memnoch ]

[wellard]

Memnoch.... There are grounds in that article you posted for concern... Is this a wise post? I don’t mind it one little bit, but you may have opened a can 'O' worms on the forum with this one?

Me I'm ducking for cover and staying out of this. The answer is an obvious 'yes to some' to me anyway

good luck

[Memnoch]

Well, at the end of the day it's an article written by a bloke named Paul Sheehan. We'll see how well we can handle it as a forum group.

EDIT: Just remembered that I've actually imposed a moratorium on religious discussion on this site. Oops. D'oh! Bugger. Would've been interesting.

[ 06-24-2004, 10:23 AM: Message edited by: Memnoch ]

[Cloudbringer]

Now this must be a first...locking your own topic with only one reply!
But good call, it would have been interesting, yet it would have broken your moratorium too.

[ 06-25-2004, 10:12 AM: Message edited by: Cloudbringer ]