I guess I almost laughed at the question when I read it, but I’ve had a greater sense of frustration at how stupid our “news” often is that overrode my laughter before I laughed. A “pre-emptive” strike, if you will.

I’m trying to understand the first issue too. I didn’t pose the question to be a jerkface; I honestly want to know the difference, because I don’t see any. It does complicate things that the woman is related to the 9/11 fellow (I added a few more thoughts in after you commented about the issue…I try not to make a habit of that, but I wanted to be more true to the question).

It is true. War sucks. I think we should continue to ask more penetrating questions about war that we haven’t raised before. Asking hard questions can take the burden of responsibility off the person who cries out and works for peace and more onto the persons who want to justify violence. Wherever we’re at on the war spectrum, from pacifism to just warfare, we absolutely need to ask these questions, especially as the spectre of a new Cold War might be over the horizon.

I really like how Brian McLaren handles this issue in a blog post he entitled “A Sermon for President Bush” just before the Iraq invasion. It’s a little wordy in places, but really powerful in others. Here’s an excerpt;

(Brian writes this in response to Isaiah 2 and the impending violence in the 7th century BC)
“At this dangerous time, when people were sharpening swords and forging spears, God plants in the hearts of the people a dream of peace, of a time when weapons will be melted down and recast as farming tools. True, they may still have to fight, but in their fighting, this dream from God will have taken root, reminding them that fighting will one day be obsolete, and that training for war was not God’s dream.

So, going to war is never a dream come true; it is always a nightmare come true, God’s best dream for us being temporarily defeated. Training for war is a reminder that the dream of God for planet earth is still frustrated, and taking up swords and spears (or tanks and bombs) means that one or both sides have failed, one or both sides have been defeated, have failed to let God “judge between nations” and “settle disputes for many peoples.”

Here’s the link to the “Sermon”: http://www.brianmclaren.net/emc/archives/imported/a-sermon-for-president-bush.html

In all honesty, I’m trying to understand the first issue. I think I see the rationale on the one hand, but on the other it is something difficult to deal with. It complicates things with her being related to the guy who supposedly was behind 9/11. And I guess it’s better for her to go to jail than for the soldier to turn around and kill her. But it is an odd thing, because if he had killed her, even accidentally, nothing would have been said or done. War sucks.