{"id":220,"date":"2011-03-08T17:45:24","date_gmt":"2011-03-08T17:45:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/studentweb.bellevuecollege.edu\/belletrist\/?p=220"},"modified":"2015-03-26T10:03:54","modified_gmt":"2015-03-26T10:03:54","slug":"8-kilometers-north-of-baqubah-june-7-2006","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/studentweb.bellevuecollege.edu\/belletrist\/8-kilometers-north-of-baqubah-june-7-2006\/","title":{"rendered":"8 Kilometers North of Baqubah June 7, 2006"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>By Gary W. Farris<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u201cAl-Zarqawi Dead\u201d, the headline said, 144-point type catching the eye.<br \/>\nI imagine the soldiers in Iraq celebrating: \u201cYes! We got him\u201d they would shout,<br \/>\nthumping one another and shaking hands.<br \/>\nI don\u2019t blame them at all,<br \/>\nThey fear each day Abu Musab\u2019s handiwork\u2014meet his disciples on a bloody<br \/>\nfield of battle with no winners and victory precious.<br \/>\nTheir sacrifice earns them any joy they can find.<br \/>\nBut my heart weeps for a nation, which,<br \/>\nin large, bold type celebrates<br \/>\nthe end of a human life,<br \/>\nthe end of hopes and dreams for a family;<br \/>\nExults in perceived punishment instead of potential redemption.<br \/>\nAbu Musab had a family, children, cousins, all<br \/>\nmourning their loss this afternoon in a dry, hot desert, made<br \/>\nto bloom and survive by the handiwork of his ancestors,<br \/>\nby the sweat and toil of true followers of the<br \/>\nProphet. heeding his call to seek godliness.<br \/>\nI can\u2019t say where the turning point is,<br \/>\nWhere the teachings of peace and strength and God<br \/>\nturn to acts of violence and hatred and vengeance.<br \/>\nWhere hands that should be building community and faith<br \/>\nturn to tools of death and sorrow.<br \/>\nI know it is a step-by-step degeneration,<br \/>\nInspired not at all by a tolerant and loving deity, but<br \/>\nby human beings striving for power, wealth, for<br \/>\ndeep lusts conjured up from natural human sources,<br \/>\nFurther stained by satanic enticing.<br \/>\nIn this, my heart weeps for two nations.<br \/>\nThe first,<br \/>\nvictimized by those who would claim to lead it<br \/>\nto a paradisiacal existence through hellish means, through<br \/>\ndestruction of fellow-citizens,<br \/>\nFellow-worshippers of a one true God.<br \/>\nThe second,<br \/>\nA nation of people blind,<br \/>\nunable to fathom or imagine<br \/>\nour own complicity,<br \/>\nour own lusts and greed<br \/>\nWhich have helped pave this path.<br \/>\n\u201cAl-Zarqawi Dead\u201d; finally, a semblance of victory,<br \/>\nBut there is no victory in death.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Gary W. Farris \u201cAl-Zarqawi Dead\u201d, the headline said, 144-point type catching the eye. I imagine the soldiers in Iraq celebrating: \u201cYes! We got him\u201d they would shout, thumping one another and shaking hands. I don\u2019t blame them at all, &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/studentweb.bellevuecollege.edu\/belletrist\/8-kilometers-north-of-baqubah-june-7-2006\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2011-edition","category-previous-editions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentweb.bellevuecollege.edu\/belletrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentweb.bellevuecollege.edu\/belletrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentweb.bellevuecollege.edu\/belletrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentweb.bellevuecollege.edu\/belletrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentweb.bellevuecollege.edu\/belletrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/studentweb.bellevuecollege.edu\/belletrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2697,"href":"https:\/\/studentweb.bellevuecollege.edu\/belletrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220\/revisions\/2697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentweb.bellevuecollege.edu\/belletrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentweb.bellevuecollege.edu\/belletrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentweb.bellevuecollege.edu\/belletrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}