Thursday, April 24, 2014
Bad day in Afghanistan
The killing by an Afghan policeman of three Americans at a hospital in Afghanistan, including a pediatrician, Jerry Umanos, who had been there nine years, seems perhaps especially outrageous, though every death there in these sorts of circumstances is outrageous. But the deaths of Westerners who are in the country in the capacity of, say, doctor, journalist, or teacher -- I think for instance of the young American scholar Alexandros Petersen, killed last January in a restaurant bombing in Kabul; he had just gone to teach at the American Univ. in Kabul -- will, as they should, garner attention. It's hard to give equal attention to all the pointless deaths, but at this juncture they all seem pointless.
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2 comments:
LFC
Not your usual reading I'm sure.
Interesting question, but why no answer?
Also similar incidents have happened because a westerner unknowingly made a statement or action that the offended person deemed requiring a physical response. Are troops there are continually briefed and warned.00
Who knows?
Hank,
I've read the linked post. The author is speculating, as he himself admits; he has no idea what the motive actually was -- religious? political? are they even really separable here? Perhaps some purely personal grievance? All I read was the NYT piece, which didn't shed any light on it. But the Patheos post doesn't esp. either.
Re the reference to "Christian values" at the end -- perhaps not quite the right phrase in this context, inasmuch as one can share what are usu. thought of as Christian values without being an adherent of the Christian faith. But this is a quibble: I understand the post is trying to raise the possibility that the victims were shot b/c they were Christians and worked for a Christian hospital. To which my response is: well, maybe; then again, maybe not.
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