The Friday Furo Questus

Questus Furore - Gee, You're Welcome
Each Friday, I go looking for some story to get my vitriol up. No problem this week.

Three hostages were rescued in Iraq yesteday by Coalition forces (some combination of British, Canadian, and American forces).

These three hostages are 3/4 of the members of a pacifist delegation, who apparently felt their mere presence would bring joy and light and peace to the region, enlightening even the cockles of George Bush's heart who would end his horrible attempt to occupy Iraq and return it to its proper former state, under the control of a mad tyrant with a penchant for feeding those who displease him into a wood chipper. Alive.

That their ambitions were in vain should have been apparent when they were taken captive by the people they sympathized with (apparently, the terrorists didn't get the newsletter). It should been rendered abundantly clear when one of their number, Tom Fox, was murdered.

(Allow me to clarify some definitions: Rebels fight soldiers, and only target soldiers. Terrorists target civilians, and only accidentally get into a fight with real troops.)

But their organization doesn't get it. Upon the rescue of the hostages, the organization issued this press release:

Harmeet, Jim and Norman and Tom were in Iraq to learn of the struggles facing the people in that country. They went, motivated by a passion for justice and peace to live out a nonviolent alternative in a nation wracked by armed conflict. They knew that their only protection was in the power of the love of God and of their Iraqi and international co-workers. We believe that the illegal occupation of Iraq by Multinational Forces is the root cause of the insecurity which led to this kidnapping and so much pain and suffering in Iraq. The occupation must end.

Yes, you read that right. One would think they could at least spare a few kind words for the rescuers. I wish I could say I'm surprised, but I'm not. I do find it incredibly hypocritical. In this age of superficial emotion and untempered passion, irony wins every time. And they fail to see it.

The organization is unwilling to speak of the fact that the hostages are free because other men were willing to lay down their lives for complete strangers. Strangers who disagree with them and all they stand for.

Not very humble, for Christians.

More at The Pacific Slope.

Recommended Reading
Victor Davis Hanson, "Hard Pounding."

Jonah Goldberg, "Right From The Beginning."

Jonah Goldberg, "Life Conspires Against the 'Old Jonah.'"

Michael T. Darda, "Guns and Butter Buffoonery."

Jamo has a post up on a report by the Comptroller General. Part of me says, so, now what? Republicans can't cut government fat and Democrats won't. So now what? (Before anyone says Clinton - look at what he did to the Defense Department. That's not the right path, despite the pleas of Bushophobes, whackos, and Dennis Kucinich.)

Thought of the Week
"After order and liberty, economy is one of the highest essentials of a free government."
Calvin Coolidge

Churchill Quote of the Week
"Do we not owe it to ourselves, to our children, to mankind tormented, to make sure that these catastrophes shall not engulf us for the third time? It has been proved that pestilence may break out in the Old World, which carry their destructive ravages into the New World, from which, once they are afoot, the New World cannot by any means escape. Duty and prudence alike command first that the germ-centres of hatred and revenge should be constantly and vigilantly surveyed and treated in good time, and, secondly, that an adequate organisation should be set up to make sure that the pestilence can be controlled at its earliest beginnings before it spreads and rages throughout the entire earth."
Winston Churchill