PerthNorg

Murdering the terrorists; washing our hands

A terrorist has a justification for murdering people. However twisted and abhorent. When we murder a terrorist in the name of justice, we are perpetuating a cycle of violence. Eye for an eye. Tooth for a tooth. Just a different justification to the terrorist's.

Srebrenitza. Justified by the Hellenic genocide 100 years before it . Or the attrocities of the Ottoman Empire for 500 years before that. Choose your timeline; choose your justification.

If you're an Australian who approves of capital punishment, you would approve of the Indonesian Government 'executing' the Bali Bombers. If not, where do you stand?

Why has the Australian Government not spoken out against this capital punishment? Here, when Australian citizens have been killed, that would have been a powerful message internationally. Was that silence an acknowledgement of the population's desire for revenge?

If we believe that capital punishment is barbaric, we should be protesting its use in other countries. Stating our disapproval wherever it happens and whatever the nationality of the offender, instead of washing our hands of it.

My sympathies to the families of the murderers. Still more victims. And a justification for the terrorists to act again.