Death By Presidential Assassination

It is hard to believe that the American people are not protesting the White House death squad.  In fact, we are sitting by while the President of the United States of America and his aides meet every week to draw up their own death list of who they will kill next.  The President of the United States has allowed the “War on Terrorism” to push him to the point that he justifies his right to kill anyone on the earth who he defines as a terrorist—American citizens included.

This is a very old story.  Our president is not the first to have a "kill" list. There was a king who took a  walk on the roof of his house one evening, he saw a beautiful woman taking a bath. Someone told him she was the wife of a Hittite soldier off fighting in his army. The king had her brought to the palace and "knew her" in the Biblical way. Sometime later she sent word to the king she was going to have his baby.

The king had committed adultery with one of his soldiers’ wives and now there was going to be a child! Desperately he tried to think of a way to cover his sin. Finally he had a plan; he would bring the solider home from the battlefront and let him visit his wife. Then everyone would think he was the baby’s father. But the plan didn’t work. The solider came back to Jerusalem, but he wouldn’t go down to his house, not even after the king got him drunk. He slept with the king’s servants instead. He wouldn’t let himself enjoy being home with his wife while the other soldiers were having a hard time on the battlefield.

What could the king do now? Soon the solider would hear his wife was going to have a baby, a baby that was not his. He must never know that the king was its father!
 

The king  wrote to the leader of his army, commanding him, “Set the solider in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retreat from him, that he may be struck down and die.” Then he had the solider take the letter back with him. When the king heard the solider  was dead he told his commander not to feel guilty. “The sword devours one as well as another.” The king treated the death as if it  had been an ordinary casualty of war.

The king was David, the woman was Bathsheba and the solider was Uriah.  Uriah made the king's "kill" list.

There is a difference between war and murder.  There are leaders who justify this as acceptable means of the fight on the “War on Terrorism”.  America has lost all sense of morality.  We no longer have morally responsible leaders.  The President of the United States has been ordering drone assassination and defending his actions since he took office.  His “War on Terror” is much like the expression the “devil made me do it.”  If, he is a “Christian", as he claims, he would know he is morally responsible for the murders of those innocent bystanders who are called “collateral damage”.  Where are the liberals who felt Bush are was a war criminal and should be impeached?  How can the liberals support a man who brags about the mass murders he has ordered?  The hit list of terrorist killed by drones has been at the cost of hundreds of civilian deaths.

I know it is difficult to know the full story of what has really happened when a drone pilot thousands of miles away targets a “terrorist”.  That pilot may have seen a small child who had all the characteristics of being a “terrorist” or a mother holding her young child who may have been hiding a bomb.  After all, US strikes are well researched so that we minimize the collateral damages.  US intelligence would never allow a strike to take place if innocent civilians were in the strike area.

As Christians we know it is immoral for our leaders to have a “kill” list.  Yet, we will justify these actions because times have changed and the enemy we are fighting is different from past wars.  If our enemy has no qualms killing women and children, or killing thousands of innocent Americans, destroying our economic stability, then we have no problem with putting them on a “kill” list.  We can justify how we act in an immoral way towards a pathological radical religious group and they should see the handwriting on the wall as we carry out our drone assassination program until every last insane “terrorist” is dead.  The ends justify the means.  Our feel our leaders are right in using every means available to give these maniacs the same death they give out to others.  We have agreed to move over to the dark side to stop evil--even if it is wrong.

As citizens of the United States of America how can we support leaders that have no qualms about killing innocent people, including men, women and children?  This action is not the exception, but the rule and they do this repeatedly, day after day, year after year. But of course, this doesn't matter-- we are making America secure. Because those we kill are, of necessity, insane religious bigots trying to impose absolute dominion over others. Even the innocent men, women and children we kill will eventually become a terrorist.  The people we kill whose names we don't know doing things we don't know for reasons we don't know is justified because they have been marked for death by our president and we trust his judgment. 

What we as America should not forget is the same president who can determine whose name is put on the “kill” list has the power to class you as a terrorist.  Our Congress has given him and any president following him, absolute power in making these choices.  He has the power to unleash death whenever and in whatever direction he chooses. The "right" to dispense death arbitrarily without due process-- the claim that the government may murder anyone it chooses, Americans included, whenever it desires is immoral and we should be concerned.  What the government can do to other they will soon be doing to us.  

There is outrage for what is happening in Syria--the president killing his own people.  As Americans we are appalled but we have given our president the same power and authority to kill those whom he deems as a terrorist to the security of our country.  We don’t seem to have a problem with this.  How long will it be before we have killing in our streets?  Keep in mind those being killed in Syria by their president our “terrorist”. 

We should never forget the history of our country where we had no problem killing thousands of American Native Indians because they would not conform to our ways.  When President Andrew Jackson gave the order to move Indians in 1838, hundreds of Indians lost their lives.  When Congress gave Jackson the power over life and death, he used the threat of death to accomplish his goals, just like our present president.  

America Christians, beware.  We could be next.