Killing Iranian General

The ends and the means. Again, mankind attempts to answer the imponderable to suit himself. It doesn’t work.


The ends are one thing. The means another. You want someone to die, now or later?  Wait. He/she will die. It is the natural order of things. If you wish to speed up the end result, then you are taking matters into your own hands. Which means can be used to speed the result? A few pop to mind:

1.      Murder the person. Illegal at all times in all places. 

2.      Place the person in a dangerous position and hope circumstances do your bidding; but don’t make the death happen directly; that is the same as murder. Death by accident is not murder.

3.      Hire someone to kill the person. This is still murder and illegal. The same as staging an accident.

4.      Hunt the person down in a place of war and chaos, and end his life. This is heinous but not illegal; it is an act of war.

That’s it. The means are limited. The right and wrong of it are variable. If you don’t mind being wrong, then do it and pay the consequences. It you do mind and prefer to do it right, you will have to wait. Death comes to each of us. The timing is happenstance and not in our hands.


The morality of means versus ends has been debated for eons. Accepting immoral, illegal means to acquire the desired ends diminishes the persons involved and the society. A moral society cannot approve immoral means. Plain and simple.


The Iranian general may have been killed as the result of a crime he was committing. Was he in Iraq legitimately, legally? If so, his killing was illegal. If he was on a mission to overthrow Iraqi order and legitimacy, then he was fair game. If he was working in league with other conspirators to overthrow Iraqi authority (this is part of the Iraqi civil war that has raged for generations), then both he and the other generals were fair game to be killed. This describes a war standing and the general is presumed to know what he was doing and the risks he was taking.


If Iran chooses to see the above as anything other, then it is on them to prove those facts. If Iraq wishes to blame America for the drone attack against their interests, then let them prove those facts.

Until then, America is presumed to be in the right.


However, to involve our nation in such a messy event, is unscrupulous, stupid state craft, and irresponsible to the citizens of America. Protocols exist to think these acts through before they are committed. We do not know what protocols, if any, were employed. It would help to know more about this.


The fact that the current White House does not respect protocol and professional state craft, clouds belief and trust. That is not a burden on the citizen. It is a burden of political leadership.


Mr. trump, Bolton, Pompeo and others in the line of command in this matter, step up and explain yourselves. Your nation and the global village awaits to hear your case.


Either that or be judged guilty and removed from office. There are other options for us to pursue, but we still remain a civil society. Speak or face the consequences of your silence.

And please, no spin or bluffer. Only the facts. Provable facts.


January 8, 2019