Murdering the Innocent

Arthur Silber has written another powerful piece, this time about the missing moral center which begins right in your face and doesn't let up. Silber is so articulate and yet so raw -- powerful stuff... and painfully true.

If you have ever wondered how a serial murderer -- a murderer who is sane and fully aware of the acts he has committed -- can remain steadfastly convinced of his own moral superiority and show not even the slightest glimmer of remorse, you should not wonder any longer.

The United States government is such a murderer. It conducts its murders in full view of the entire world. It even boasts of them. Our government, and all our leading commentators, still maintain that the end justifies the means -- and that even the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of innocents is of no moral consequence, provided a sufficient number of people can delude themselves into believing the final result is a "success."

We are a nation that has voluntarily renounced all its most crucial values, and all its founding principles.

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Remember the five-year-old Iraqi girl who was killed by the same bombs that killed al-Zarqawi. [...] So think of the five-year-old Iraqi girl who is no more, or think of any one of the countless other victims of this criminal war and occupation. Think of their families and friends. Think of the lives that have been altered forever, and of the wounds that will never heal. Think about all of that.

Contemplate the devastation and the horror. Make it real to yourself. And ask yourself if forgiveness is possible.

Iraq did not attack us. Iraq did not threaten us. Our leaders knew it. Our invasion and occupation of Iraq were blatant, indefensible acts of aggression. Therefore, when the very first Iraqi was killed as the result of our actions, we had committed an act that was gravely immoral, and entirely unforgivable. Yet even now, most Americans desperately cling to the notion that our actions might still be redeemed.

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To call it "wrong" does not come close to capturing the enormity of the immorality involved. Our actions are monstrous. We have unquestionably committed a war crime (indeed, an endless series of war crimes), and a crime against humanity.

Given these facts, there are only two further key points to be kept in mind, both of which I have discussed at length. First, there is no "good" solution to the situation we have created in Iraq. That was obvious several years ago; indeed, it was clear to anyone with an appreciation of history, culture and politics before we entered Iraq. Second, there is only one legitimate course of action for the United States: Get Out Now. The conclusion of that essay contains some suggestions as to how we can make what amends are possible, although such amends will not and should not bring forgiveness for what we have done.

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I don't know what to say any longer when I come across statements of this kind. In other words: there still might be a result that could make the slaughter of hundreds of thousands "worth it." In the end, it does not matter that we attacked a country that had not attacked us, and that did not threaten us. Our criminal acts have no ultimate significance. If the end is a "success" -- in our terms, even though those terms have nothing whatsoever to do with the hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis we have murdered -- then all those deaths need not concern us further.

For most people, the five-year-old Iraqi girl has no reality. Nor do her parents, or the other members of her family, or all the countless other Iraqis whose lives have been devastated and altered forever by what we have done.

Even now, we continue to talk about all this as if it concerns only us, and as if only our intentions and our goals matter.

There is only one remotely honorable course of action for us: Get Out Now. Make all those amends that are possible. But, and I say this with aching pain for what this country has become, forget about forgiveness.

We gave up that possibility a long, long time ago.