Dr. Forbush Thinks

The Mind of the Man

The administration seems to have a selective memory when it comes to history. A lawyer for the administration told an interviewer yesterday why the actions of the CIA, military and administration was justified under the international laws that exist today. As I listened to this I sat in shock and wondered how an administration that was reinstated under the guise of moral values could step around the law in such a way to accomplish justification for such unchristian activities.

A few of the legal justifications boggle my mind. For example, in Afghanistan, a sovereign country that signed the Geneva Convention, the administration claimed that Taliban fighters did not qualify for the provisions of the Geneva Convention. The lawyer reasoned that the Taliban fighters did not wear uniforms with insignia, and therefore should not be afforded rights of prisoners. The administration lawyer said that these fighters were dishonorable for not wearing uniforms and hiding among the civilians.

Of course the first thing that flashed into my mind was the American Revolutionary War. The American colonists did not wear uniforms and fought in what the British considered unfair methods. Would this administration say that the American Revolutionaries were dishonorable? Should we give control of our country back to the British because we won our battle by dishonorable means?

Obviously, the Taliban was at a great disadvantage. In these circumstances the Taliban was bound to use every method conceivable to fight for it’s cause. The Taliban believed that God sent down its mandate. Even when we all most certainly disagree with the Human Rights violations of this regime, should we violate Human Rights to prove our point?

The administration certainly doesn’t understand the mind of its enemy. If you want to win the battle for the hearts and minds of the enemy, then you should certainly understand the hearts and minds of the enemy as they exist today. However, with the administration populated by Fundamentalist Christians they should certainly understand why a terrorist would give his life for a cause. After all, Christians worship Jesus because he gave his own life for his cause. He was put to death for his beliefs. Every time a suicide bomber kills himself in the name of his cause the followers to remark, “This cause must certainly be important if this guy was willing to give his life for it.” The death of each terrorist makes the movement stronger with every attack. It isn’t about how many people he kills, although that offers frustration to their enemy, its about power of their cause.

Maybe if the administration would put itself in the mind of an early American Revolutionary trying to win independence from the overpowering British empire. Maybe if they were to understand the power that giving one’s life for a cause has. Then maybe they could figure out how to win the hearts and mind of the terrorists and the Arab world.