Is Killing ever justified?

Are There Reasons to Kill?
By D. "Deuke"

Is there reason enough to take the lives of those we determine to be our enemies? This question has been asked repeatedly in America, since that bloody day, September 11, 2001.

Some say that killing, for whatever reason, is never justified. They espouse the teachings of Yeshua/Jesus Christ, as the basis for this belief. Are they right?
Americans ask if our government is indeed justified in waging war – at the latest front in Iraq and Afghanistan. The ‘imminent danger,’ we were told, warranted the decision to immediately “mobilize” and send battalions of well-trained soldiers to the Middle East. However, after many months of investigation; several years of occupation, and many Americans killed, as well as Iraqi's and Afghans, and still more being killed on a daily basis by “suicide bombers,” in Bhagdad and elsewhere in both countries, it is clear that the reasons (given publicly), were “exaggerated.”

Are there other reasons? The administration of President George W. Bush answered a resounding “of course.” Nevertheless, are those reasons justified? Many say yes. Many more say no.

Since the Bush administration, the new president, Barack Obama, has shown his true colors in this regard as well. He thinks we can get the thugs to "Unclench their fists," with glad-handing speeches. And he has indicated that we continue our occupation in those countries. At the same time, he critisizes our long time friends in Israel and states he has "Deep concern," over the fact that the Honduran people ousted their president for his attempts at ursurping their constitution. We heartily cheer their efforts - Zelaya was and is a criminal.

North Korea has threatened to launch a "test missile" toward Hawaii. I for one call on Congress to remove Obama from office if N. Korea actually launches this missile! His job #1 is to protect U.S. Citizens! That's our constitution!

We ask; as a civilized, and what used to be considered a GOD-fearing nation, do we have the right to kill – ever? We were told that American soldiers and the armies associated, are “hunting down” those that threaten us – “a war against terrorism,” is the term bandied about. We were told that the leaders of these “evil axis of powerful terrorist states,” including Iran and N. Korea, must be brought to justice; and publicly, we reinforce the decisions by saying that the deaths of our military personnel are ‘not in vain.’

Jack Nicholson, playing the character of Col. Jessup, in the movie “A Few Good Men,” said that

“The country needs people like me; the soldier that stands at the wall and fights.”

Was he right?

It has been said that this enemy wants to kill us, that we are the “Great Satan.” Some have suggested that the reasons are no more than they hate our economic success. Many Americans say that this enemy must be annihilated. Nevertheless, in our quest to kill, are we breeding killers?

In the early 1700s the thirteen British colonies, which inhabited the northeastern part of the United States, were under constraints by British law to stay within certain territorial boundaries. However, the wars between the British and French in America, gave an opportunity to colonists, involved in these conflicts, to see the rest of the “frontier.” It was like a wide open candy store to children.
The desire to gain more land became an obsession. Soon without regard for the American Indians, these other territories became open to settlement, and it wasn’t long before it was the Indians that were called savage and deserved death. They were the terrorists then, and nothing seemed to stop the attempt to kill them at every turn.
Explorers, such as Daniel Boone, and others, saw the beauty and the resources of the land west of the Appalachians and began staking claims. This of course was a breech of agreement with the natives; it stirred resentment and soon, all out war.
At the same time, colonists increasingly resented the control of the “mother country.” The cries: “Taxes without representation,” or “Give me liberty or give me death,” began to be heard throughout the colonies; further stirring a feeling that Americans had the right to break away from England; defy King George and eventually declare freedom from his rule. It brought on a war with one of the greatest empires of the time.

Today, it is revered as the “American Revolution.”

We praise men like Patrick Henry, John Adams and Samuel Adams, John Hancock, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and many others, as the founders and leaders of this new thinking to seek ‘liberty or death.’ This rebellious spirit has been America’s battle cry for life. Was it wrong? Should we have sullenly gone about our business in the 1700s, paid the taxes, (applied to pay off war debts), taken the iron rod of control which King George III was attempting to use on this upstart ‘rag-tag group of colonists’ in the ‘new world,’ and never rebelled?
Are there causes and reasons enough to die? There would be no United States of America if we hadn’t. Should there have been?
This country has much guilt to bear; what was done to the Indians is unforgivable; what was done to Negroes is unforgivable and what is being done today to those without resources around the world, is unforgivable.

Is America truly the country that stood against the world to secure liberty? On the other hand, are we the country, which had too much desire for wealth, and have used the slogans as a tool to accumulate that wealth? Have we prostituted ourselves with every country willing to get in bed with us? Many say yes, and many more will never admit it, including our own government.

Thomas Jefferson, who is credited with authoring the Declaration of Independence, was influenced by the ideas espoused by the European Enlightenment, according to the historical reference: ‘America, The People and The Dream,’ published by Scott, Foresman and Company.

Philosophers such as John Locke, believed that among the natural laws, which GOD set in motion, were those "controlling the relationship between a government and the people it governed." He viewed this relationship as a “social contract, an agreement in which the people gave power to the government so that it could protect the people’s rights. He identified the most basic of these rights as life, liberty, and property.”

As the Declaration of Independence states: “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

On this statement alone hang all the reasons Americans seem justified in fighting and dying for a righteous cause.
In our stations around the globe, are they righteous causes?

What do you say?