Heart Wrenching

CNN has a photo of the young South Korean translator's parents reacting to news that their son has been beheaded because S Korea failed to meet the demands of the man's captor. I won't soon forget the look on the father's face. I've had the unfortunate privilege of witnessing much pain and grief, but this had a raw edge to it that I suspect may torment my sleep for some time to come.

We've seen it before in variations with the Berg family, with some of the dead GIs' families, and with Iraqi civilians caught in the battles.

Are we battling terror or creating more? Some people won't like that question but it's a legitimate one. While we were not directly responsible for this young man's death, he wouldn't have been there, WE would not have been there, had Mr. Bush not declared war on Iraq and repeatedly framed it as part of the war on terror.

Some are finally beginning to see the war on Iraq as a huge mistake. But it was more than a mistake. And I'm afraid I am not sure the "greater" war on terror is any more legitimate than the one on Iraq. Both have been conflated for reasons that may only be fully known to the Bushies and the bin Ladens.