we are our own collateral casualties

There are four reasons why I'm not out celebrating the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. I will explain myself.

1) I don't celebrate death. I'm a Christian, we don't kill, especially for revenge. Since God and Jesus enacted the crucifixtion and resurrection as a means of instituting a new covenant, death is no longer synonymous with "justice". To hear men who have wrapped themselves in the label of self-professed faith and adherence to the teachings of Jesus rejoice in this killing makes as much sense as electing a pimp for Pope. It mau have been "necessary" but it wasn't moral.

2) Someone will take his place. You think al-Zarqawi was the only clever Muslim with a grudge against the United States? Wow. I'm speechless. Go back to school. Read a newspaper. Grow a brain stem.

3) The "WarGames" syndrome. In that old movie, a young boy, trying to steal software, almost causes the end of all life on this planet when he triggers a dormant personality in a wargaming computer. In the end he figures out how to defuse this armageddon (whose fuse he himself lit)...and is treated as a hero? Duh. We made, in some regards, many of the leaders of the terrorists, either through initially elevating them for our own purposes (and arming them), or engaging in such hypocrisies in our foreign policy that they got pissed and we became their "great Satan". It may not be fair, or right, for them to demonize us, but supposedly we have one or two fairly bright individuals at the helm who, in the past twenty, thirty, forty years might have seen this coming.

4) It has been widely reported that amongst the "collateral casualties" when we hit Abu Musab al-Zarqawi with our heavy munitions were two women and an 8 year old girl. I don't accept collateral casualties. Our unwillingness to kill women and children is supposed to be something that proves us better than the "bad guys". Don't think this won't be used by our enemies to demonize us further that, in our rush to kill one man (in strict non-adherence with our own religious principles) we killed women and a child. This will fuel vengeance, and the game starts again. If someone trying to asassinate a high US government official he had a grudge against stooped so low to kill women and children in the "kill shot", we would consider him a monster.

Yes, I think Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was guilty of at least most of the charges against him. Yes, given a choice between him and Ann Coulter as a dinner date, I might actually choose the latter. Not because she is less odious of a person, but, to be honest, I think she is prettier. And, I wouldn't have to worry about dinner being interrupted by a barrage of remotely-fired missiles killing me and everyone else in the restaurant.

No, my principles are not pragmatic, Christianity is not a practical religion, it is not geared towards preserving life in the flesh, but in the soul. And we risk becoming the very soulless monster our enemies call us in the name of rhetoric when we celebrate our hypocrisies.