I like your tactical suggestion of how to deal with these subhuman Taliban maniacs: “to have their heads set on fire and the flames put out with sledgehammers“.

I wish Bush would institute this as our new ROE in Afghanistan for all such terrorists when caught. (And mandate the use of baconfat as the accelerant.)

USKorea is exactly right, the ROK should send in MORE troops!

ROK Marines vs. The Taliban. That’d be like Mike Tyson vs. my 8 month old daughter.

Tony737 on July 25, 2007 at 3:37 PM

Well, in the state that Mike is these days i wouldn’t bet on him to win. Maybe by points.

ROK Marines vs. The Taliban. That’d be like Mike Tyson vs. my 8 month old daughter.

May the enemies of freedom and righteousness, those animals that don’t even deserve the life You gave them or the blood that Christ shed for us, get what they deserve in Hell.

Devout Christians go where they believe they are called to go, and earthly or governmental concerns do not factor in, only obedience to the will of God.

Freelancer on July 25, 2007 at 1:24 PM

Excellent point Freelancer.

Unfortunately, South Korea will probably vote for appeasement and give them the money.

uskorea on July 25, 2007 at 1:06 PM

UsKorea:

As a Christian, I believe that God has ordained 2 different “spheres”, the sphere or realm of the church, and a separate sphere for the government.

It is important for Christians to never confuse the 2 different spheres. Both spheres have different functions, different purposes, and different goals, as ordained by God in the Bible. For example, the purpose of government is to enforce the laws, punish evil. The purpose of the church is radically different, preaching the gospel, mentoring others, visiting the sick, etc.

UsKorea, my only point is that I agree with you that appeasement is wrong. I agree with you that bribing Taliban or others is wrong.

The biblical message for every Christian missionary is this:

when you go to foreign, hostile lands to spread the gospel, you go there knowing that you may Die. You do not go there to expect the government to “eventually bail you out” or to “bribe” the enemy. You do not go there in order to have your relatives petition secular government in order to free you in times of trouble. Rather, we go into hostile countries for the sake of honoring Christ, our Supreme Treasure, with our deaths.

Just like Jesse!

I appreciate your sentiments, but I point out that immediately after you call the missionaries’ actions misguided and foolish, you explain how the government should deal with it properly, but likely won’t. That is a government issue, and how does it become the fault of those following their conscience?

Devout Christians go where they believe they are called to go, and earthly or governmental concerns do not factor in, only obedience to the will of God.

I hate to say it and I know it will not win me friends of this site but we are failing in Afghanistan. They are gaining strength and territory. If some reports are to be believed this hostage crisis has generated huge amounts of cash for them, despite this gruesome murder. The Taliban are part of the culture of Afghanistan (such as it is). We cannot build a nation there, at least not in the Western sense. Six years, US deaths and unfathomable sums have only slowed them down.

Nation-building simply doesn’t work. In Germany and Japan we built States for nations that already existed. In Afghanistan and Iraq are not nations. They are geographical collections of pre-modern tribes, clans, ethnic fiefdoms and exclusionary sects. The only State that can bind these disparate elements together is a dictatorship, which our own squeamishness prohibits us from installing. We can stay in Iraq and Afghanistan for as long as we want, but the week after we leave the place will splinter and fragment in the most violent way imaginable.

In his piece this week Spengler says we need to accept the fact the genocide is a constant throughout history, not the rare, unspeakable event we in the pampered post-modern suburban 1st world like to imagine it is. We need to embrace the Cardinal Richelieu inside of us. In Defense of Genocide, Redux.

Thomas the Wraith on July 25, 2007 at 11:56 AM

I’m coming to support such views more and more.

“My solution to the problem would be to tell them frankly that they’ve got to draw in their horns and stop their aggression, or we’re going to bomb them back into the Stone Age.”

What South Korea should do is pull a Mel Gibson in the movie Ransom and tell them for every person they kill, they will send 1000 soldiers to Afganistan to fight the Taliban. Unfortunately, South Korea will probably vote for appeasement and give them the money.

“I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”

Magnifying Jesus Christ by being satisfied in Him in pain, suffering, and death was the passion of the Apostle Paul’s life. His passion was not to escape pain, escape disappointment, escape suffering. Rather, when Paul reflected deeply on the Absolute Eternal Value of his Treasure, Jesus Christ, that perspective even caused him to endure suffering, torture, and even death, for the sake of honoring Jesus Christ.

An unbelieving, dying world looks at these South Korean missionaries and think, “are they crazy? Don’t they know the inherent risks and dangers?”

But a transformed heart, arising out of faith alone, views Jesus Christ as such a supreme Treasure that to glorify Him (even in suffering and death) is of such valuable importance and joy for the believer.

It looks like these South Korean missionaries must have had the same perspective as the Apostle Paul.

Thomas the Wraith on July 25, 2007 at 11:56 AM

I’ve been wondering the same thing myself lately – about exporting western democracies to countries that don’t seem to want them/know what to do with them.

I think it was an article posted here at HA, but I’m not sure. Anyhow, a week or so ago, I read an article that pointed out how post-war Germany and Japan didn’t immediately have democracies. For a good many years, it was pretty much martial law. The article also mentioned other countries that are rather peaceful (such as Singapore) that have never had a western-style democracy, but are ruled by a person that has no desire to hurt the U.S.

The point of the article being that we might need to rethink our nation building policy. If keeping the US safe from a foreign power and keeping the citizens of the foreign power safe from each other are the actual goals, a democracy might not be the best way to achieve this…..

TunaTalon on July 25, 2007 at 11:48 AM

As you wish. They are Sub-human scum…

Islam loves to kill and terrorize the people without weapons and know how. The only thing that has held them back after 9/11 was our action and the men and women over there taking it to them every day.

Nation-building simply doesn’t work. In Germany and Japan we built States for nations that already existed. In Afghanistan and Iraq are not nations. They are geographical collections of pre-modern tribes, clans, ethnic fiefdoms and exclusionary sects. The only State that can bind these disparate elements together is a dictatorship, which our own squeamishness prohibits us from installing. We can stay in Iraq and Afghanistan for as long as we want, but the week after we leave the place will splinter and fragment in the most violent way imaginable.

In his piece this week Spengler says we need to accept the fact the genocide is a constant throughout history, not the rare, unspeakable event we in the pampered post-modern suburban 1st world like to imagine it is. We need to embrace the Cardinal Richelieu inside of us. In Defense of Genocide, Redux.

This morning the Taliban warned the U.S. to stay out of the tribal areas or they would “fight to the last death”. U.S. to the Taliban: Your terms are acceptable.