Can We Get Rid Of Evil Doers By Evil Means?

Note the headline in the September 17, 2001, issue of the Harrisonburg Daily News-Record I found stored in our basement recently.

AP September 2001: “Bush: Rid World Of Evil Doers” was the bold headline that appeared in the Daily News-Record just days after the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center. 

Here is the opening sentence of the article:
WASHINGTON--Vowing not to be cowed, President Bush pledged a crusade against terrorists Sunday as top administration officials zeroed in on Saudi Osama bin Laden and Afghanistan's Taliban militia for possible retribution for last week's terrorist attacks.
   

Two other front page headlines in the same 9/17/2001 issue were “Military Action Supported” and “Pakistan: Give Up Suspect—Nation Warning Afghanistan to Produce Bin Laden.”
   

On page 13 another article in that issue reported that "Israeli tanks rolled into the West Bank towns of Jenin and Jericho yesterday, shelling buildings and leaving four Palestinians dead." Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is cited as saying "If absolute quiet lasts 48 continuous hours, our foreign minister will meet with  Arafat in order to advance the ceasefire." To which the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat replied, "We are ready for political dialogue any time, any place," but insisted the violence was caused by Israel's incursion into Palestinian territory. 
   

Years later, these familiar arguments on both sides have repeatedly stalled negotiations and have eventually led to the kind of dangerous escalation we see in the Middle East today.
   

So how well have retaliatory strikes on the part of great nations like Israel and the U.S. actually worked out?
  

The U.S spent over $2 trillion of mostly borrowed money in an Afghan war and occupation spanning nearly 20 years, the longest war in the nation's history. Nearly 50,000 Afghan civilians lost their lives, with an unknown number suffering debilitating injuries. Over 5000 U.S. service members, contractors and aid workers were killed, along with over 1000 NATO troops and some 44,000 Afghans who joined the fight. The Taliban lost over 51,000 fighters but was never defeated, and the U.S. finally withdrew from Afghanistan in disgrace, reminiscent of the nation’s equally chaotic and humiliating pullout from Vietnam in 1973. 
   

One wonders what would have happened if after the 911 attack, when the U.S. experienced an outpouring of sympathy and support from virtually all nations around the world (including Muslim ones), we would have responded differently? Or what if Israel would have avoided disproportionate and indiscriminate attacks on the two million citizens of Gaza after the brutal October 7 terrorist attacks? Many of them are refugees and over half of them are innocent children, all packed together in an area a fraction of the size of Rockingham County, 

   

While there are no easy answers, one thing seems clear. Using violent and evil means to rid the world of violence and evil—and evildoers—appears to have only perpetuated more evil, and has proven to be not only a costly failure, but has created fanatical martyrs and contributed to the rise of Isis, Hezbollah, Hamas and other terrorist groups.
   

In the 19th century Red Cloud was among the native chiefs who chose to resist the westward expansion of the U.S. (justified by the church’s “Doctrine of Discovery”) using every means possible to preserve the land and way of life of native peoples. Under his leadership tribal warriors resorted to mercilessly scalping and butchering white occupiers, men, women and children, in horrific ways, and US forces retaliated in an equal and ultimately overwhelming way.
     

All people, especially the children of godly nomads like Abraham and Sarah, should know that lasting peace can be achieved only through creating more justice and equity in the world, though eliminating extreme poverty and through having legitimate human needs met for adequate land, food, shelter and healthcare for all.
     

In the words of an ancient Hebrew prophet, 
“I hate, I despise your feasts,
    and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies…
But let justice roll down like waters,
    and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream." 

Amos 5:21-24 (ESV)