Where is the outrage?

A day after Paul Johnson's brutal murder by terrorists, which was widely condemned in the Muslim world, Coalition forces bombed a few houses flat in Fallujah. Among the victims were three women and five children. The two events are not connected, and it is not fair to Johnson if my letter makes it seem as though they are. What happened to Johnson is profoundly unfair - how will his family ever get through this? There are things in this world worse than death, and knowing that someone you love was a victim of such evil may be one of them. I pray for comfort for his wife and son, and get them through this.

Turning to Fallujah, I notice that the indignation which these events should cause never seems to surface. "Where's the Muslim outrage!" Right-wing pundits scream whenever even a single American dies at the hands of terrorists (as if to imply there is no outrage, which there often is.)

Well, where is the American outrage, when these things happen? OK - that is not fair. In fact, many good and decent Americans are very outraged by what is being done in their name. But among the neocons, Bush apologists, and Bible Belt supporters you hear nothing but excuses, or less. They will try and tell you that they were all terrorists (the children, too?) or even more disgracefully, tell you something like "You have to break a few eggs to make an omelette" (I've heard that offensive saying in Usenet newsgroups, although people seem to have enough shame to use it less frequently now that Iraq is so clearly off the rails.)

Why is it only Muslims are supposed to feel outrage at American deaths? When will the neocons feel the sting of shame when their plans bring unfair suffering and misery!

Well, as a Christian, I feel outrage: outrage that my God's name is invoked to justify all the death that my fellow Christians have wrought, playing "SimCity" across the Iraqi landscape. I apologize to the Iraqi people for what Christians do in the name of God, and I hope God will unharden the hearts of my fellow believers in the American Bible belt, and listen to what Jesus has to say. Let them cease all idolatry and abandon Mars, the Roman god of war, for the Lord, our Blessed Prince of Peace!