By now you've probably heard about GOP Senator James Inhofe's comments earlier this week about being "outraged by the outrage" over the Abu Ghraib scandal. There have also been comments around the blogosphere expressing a "kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out" type of mentality, especially since the Nick Berg tragedy. I have to say, I have never understood this line of thinking, as it seems to defy any type of logic you could come up with. Often the people expressing this mentality are Christian, and follow the Christian Bible. The last time I checked, there were no exceptions to the "Thou Shalt Not Kill" commandment. Didn't it ever occur to them that their God might not particularly appreciate this type of opinion, an opinion which advocates killing without regard as to guilt or innocence? Or that holding this opinion, and especially acting on it, could lead God to "sort" THEM, possibly in a way they might not like? At the very least did it not occur to them that they are expressing the very opinion held by the terrorists about us--"kill the infidels, and let Allah sort them out"?

I, personally, am an agnostic Buddhist, so "God" never factors into my opinion of what's happening in the world. In both cases, the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib, and the beheading of Nick Berg, I am outraged, and my interest is to see justice done. The killing of innocents is never justice, it's vengeance, and vengeance begets vengeance. In the never-ending quest to "even the score", there is always SOMEONE for whom the score is uneven. Good luck trying to find the moral high ground when you're drowning in the blood of innocents!