The Angel with the Fiery Sword Remember how Philippine President Gloria Arroyo withdrew that nation's troops from Iraq to effect the rel...
The Angel with the Fiery Sword
Remember how Philippine President Gloria Arroyo withdrew that nation's troops
from Iraq to effect the release of a Filipino hostage? Well she didn't retreat
far enough. Iraqi 'insurgents' have seized another hostage and Manila's
officialdom
has
expressed 'gratitude' for their delay in beheading him.
The Philippines Saturday lauded the recent extension granted by Iraqi
hostage-takers on the deadline by which they had threatened to kill a Filipino
hostage. The kidnappers of accountant Roberto Tarongoy had earlier said they
would kill him by March 11 but a Philippine team in Iraq had reported the
kidnappers had given an indefinite extension to the deadline Because of this,
Presidential Spokesperson Ignacio Bunye: declared, "We thank God for this
reprieve."
The 'insurgents' have presented a new demand. The hostage's father "has
appealed in a letter to Arroyo to 'heed the captors' demand' to free his son by
making a statement withdrawing support for US policy in Iraq." The statement of
repudiation may have to wait a while. Right now Philippine officialdom is busy
finding dinners for the Abu Sayyaf who took over a maximum security jail after
killing three guards.
How far does one have to retreat from evil to be truly safe? A letter writer
to Michael Totten
brought the inescapability of confronting evil home when he asked if Mr. Totten
would rule out torture if the safety of his own child depended on applying it.
Mr. Totten allowed it was a hard question; and yet the question was the right
one to ask. Any real opposition to torture would be unwavering even if it
involved sacrificing our own children. Volunteering those of others doesn't
count. Ivan Karamazov famously asked Alyosha whether he would accept the edifice
of Paradise if it were built upon the suffering of a single innocent child;
Alyosha replied that he would not. Yet there are any number who would maintain a
principled opposition to war, torture or hostage payments at the expense of the
suffering of innocents. Did Saddam throw people into woodchippers? Regrettable
but better that than violate the principle of collective international action.
Are Blacks being massacred in Darfur? Sad, but unilateralism is worse. Surely
the price of maintaining the no-ransom policy isn't worth the life of a Filipino
hostage? Here the devil defeats the prospect of a free moral lunch. Not paying
ransom kills, but paying it kills too. Breese Bull of the
Washington Post takes it personally whenever ransom (a.k.a. 'go buy an
IED') money is paid to 'insurgents'.
As a foreigner here, I feel threatened by the possibility that the Italian
government may have rewarded the kidnappers. But Iraq is not about us
foreigners. It is about Iraqis. And it is Iraqis who suffer most from
kidnappings and from the transportation of the artillery shells and anti-tank
mines that become roadside devices and car bombs. Kidnapping Iraqis has become
an almost routine business transaction here. ... But since the Sgrena
shooting, I've already sensed even greater reluctance to set up these
dangerous checkpoints.
A long time ago I personally came to the conclusion that there was no way to
live on earth without the stain of guilt, maybe the concept of Original Sin was
a rueful recognition of this condition. Yet there is perhaps the chance that one
may leave the earth forgiven. But that is another story.
COMMENTS