The Culture of Death

Today in the Wall Street Journal, my favorite lawyer, law professor, and thinker, Alan Dershowitz, wrote an article entitled, "Worshippers of Death." It is a trenchant piece on the mentality enveloping the people of the Middle East and being inculcated into the youth of this region.

He writes about a mother named Zahra Maladan who has big plans for her son. A university education? Marrying a beautiful woman?

No. She wants her son to be a suicide bomber. According to the New York Times, Maladan remarked to her son, "if you're not going to follow the steps of the Islamic resistance martyrs, then I don't want you."

Geez. I thought I had it bad with my parents. They are pressuring me to be a lawyer. Imagine what this kid must feel.

Even worse though, the Islamic extremists in the region take pride in this blood-thirsty view of life. The leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, said that in the battle between the West and Islam, "We are going to win, because they love life and we love death."

In battling people with such a morbid outlook and life goals, Dershowitz says that something must be done to stop these people. New strategies must be adopted. This is no conventional war.

Terrorists do not play by the rules of conventional warfare. They do not respect innocent humans. No. They purposely target civilian life, especially their own. As a defensive measure, terrorists purposely hide among their own civilians. They know that the West has democratic values and respect for human life. It's smart because they know that the U.S. military wont' purposely kill innocent people. And when the U.S. military accidentally does inflict damage on innocent life, terrorist leaders can use these unfortunate acts as propaganda--evidence that the U.S. are occupiers and invaders.

In essence, terrorists are trying to use our morals and our ethical practice of war against us. Now is the time to start thinking about how to combat these evil people. We need to, not only outsmart them, but we need to maintain our moral high ground in the process.