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Tragedy
and Redemption
by
Gordon Francis Corbett
When I was told that Daniel Pearl had been killed, I felt
disheartened and sick. When I saw Matt Drudge's headline, "They Slit
His Throat," I felt insensate rage.
When I cooled off, I started thinking. I remembered a
book, "Vengeance," by George Jonas. Mr. Jonas is, or was, an
Israeli. In 1972, Black September terrorists murdered many Israeli
athletes attending the Olympic Games in
Munich
.
In response, the Israeli government exacted a fearsome
retribution. They formed, trained, and deployed teams of assassins armed
with pistols.
Once, unfortunately, a team killed an innocent waiter in
Lillehammer
,
Norway
, because he closely resembled one of their
targets.
In the end, the Israelis executed almost every one of the
Black September murderers.
We can do likewise with the murderers of Daniel Pearl.
We should begin with the actual killers and proceed up their chain of command.
This task will not be easy. Congress has long starved our intelligence
agencies of personnel, tools, and money; and, even after our agencies have
those assets, learning to use them properly will take time.
Nevertheless, we must do it. Foreign thugs have
declared an open season on Americans. In the social compact undergirding
our Constitution, we jointly hire people to protect our rights. Daniel
Pearl's killers violated his rights, and our paid public servants must redeem
the debt that his murder created.
Our enemies will scoff, because our leaders rarely carry out
their threats. Nevertheless, gradually, as the toll of killers, planners,
and sponsors grows, their colleagues will realize that murdering Americans is a
delayed form of suicide.
On "the shores of
Tripoli
,"
Lieutenant Stephen Decatur taught that fact to every despot, but our leaders'
subsequent neglect has given them a long time to forget.
Let us help them to relearn it.
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