Best regards

Tom

I, frankly, am of two minds on this one. My first reaction is that it seems not all that different from the assassinations and black work of the Cold War days. Those actions were stopped (we are told), and I consider it to have been both vulgar and unsupportable. So my first thought is that there is no justification – especially under international law – for the drone-killings, and that goes not only for the two American citizens-turned-al Qaeda but for anyone. I hold little hope that these isolated murders will stop the terrorism, particularly as long as we keep forces in those countries. The legal standard (your domain, not mine) seems to have become “guilty by probable cause.”

But the other part of me also holds that those two men had been quite involved with several of the terrorism activities and events of recent years and were in all likelihood planning more. Trying to capture them and try them, while preferable to me, is highly unlikely to succeed, and in the absence of intervention, more terrorism is likely to occur as a result of the work by men such as those two. I’m struggling, therefore, with your question and with the justification for this action.

Tom

tom

So just after commenting on your Webb posting about the National Memorial and Museum, I turned to this email, which I receive daily with different readings from Hazrat Inayat Kahn and commentary by his son, Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan. It says what I was trying to say, but much more clearly…

Warm regards – miss you!
tom

Belief and disbelief have divided mankind into so many sects, blinding its eyes to the vision of the oneness of all life.
Bowl of Saki, July 27, by Hazrat Inayat Khan

I can understand the reaction, and while my view might not be popular with many, I kind of agree. First, I doubt it will be possible to fully appease the American Atheists with a reasonable compromise, although I have no real basis to make that statement. But to me that National Memorial and Museum should be about commemorating those who lost their lives in the tragedy. That certainly includes Christians and Jews, but I remember reading that a number of people of other faiths –including Islam, Buddhist, and others–lost their lives in the collapse of the two towers. There were probably atheists as well. So, if any religious symbols are to be included as exhibits or otherwise adorn the Memorial and Museum, I believe they should represent all of those who died. I just erased “…not including those who were responsible for the tragedy.” If we are people of God who believe that all are creations of The One, are we missing something if we don’t respect them as God’s children, but who made a choice that wasn’t consistent with their faith? I know, that’s a tough one, but probably moot, since others in the buildings and maybe passengers on the plane were of the same religion as the perpetrators. Make sense?

Tom