I remember a phrase my father used to describe certain people.
He would occasionally call someone who had done a foolish but
well-intended deed, “a good-hearted slob.” You know the type. They
lend money to indigent, ne’er-do-well relatives with no hope of
repayment, or, out of common courtesy, waste valuable time
listening to the spiel of any pitchman who appears on their
doorstep.
The United States of America is, to some extent, a nation of
good-hearted slobs, displaying a tolerance that occasionally
appears as softness. This disturbs those who are keenly aware that
this may not be a prudent thing, especially in time of war. And
they may be right.
Witness the way our most recent wars have been fought. Is there
any doubt that the so-called Iraqi insurgency could have been put
down in a matter of weeks had our military unleashed all the
weaponry at its disposal? Were “collateral damage” not something to
be avoided at any cost — even the lives of our troops — could not
the much of the current suffering have been prevented?
After all, despite revisionist history, we are the same country
that bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki in order to save lives. This
concept was more easily understood at a time when war was not
merely a political football but a constant, dreaded presence in our
lives. Yet we quickly rebuilt the very same countries we
devastated, at great emotional and monetary cost. Why?
Because America is and was founded as a nation of Christian
peoples. Notice, I did not say as a Christian nation; because now
as at its inception, our government was always intended to be a
secular one, but one run by people of faith. This is a distinction
often blurred by those on both sides of the church vs. state
argument.
And as a nation of mostly Christian people who often cannot
follow in the perfect footsteps of our savior, we tend to offer
post-war compassion instead of the other cheek to our enemies. And
it didn’t end with the Marshall Plan of World War II Europe. The
private and public generosity of this country far outpaces that of
any other, feeding the poor and healing the sick of nations whose
rulers despise our freedom and way of life.
Some see what they regard as this misplaced compassion in our
conduct of the War on Terror, as evidenced by the Zacarias
Moussaoui verdict. They see the jury’s failure to mete out capital
punishment as evidence of weakness in the face of a terrible enemy,
but I am not so sure this is true.
Had he received the death penalty, he would have had years of
appeals, providing countless opportunities for Islamist propaganda,
strutting, and possible martyrdom. Instead, he will rot in prison.
And if life in prison is such a walk in the park for a determined
jihadist like Moussaoui, why are the ACLU’s undergarments in such a
knot, and why are the French trying to extradite his sorry
carcass?
And why, on Monday, did he say he lied about being involved in
9/11, and ask to withdraw his guilty plea? Because, it seems,
ADX Florence, the “Alcatraz of the Rockies” — where
Mr. Moussaoui will spend what will seem to him like an eternity
before meeting his final and inexorable fate — is not exactly
conducive to the practice of glorious jihad.
Once there, he will eke out his miserable existence, 60 feet
below ground in the company of his fellow vermin: Ramzi Ahmed
Yousef, architect of the 1993 World Trade Center attack; Unabomber
Theodore Kaczynski; Terry L. Nichols, of Oklahoma City fame, and
shoe bomber Richard Reid. Dead, these men would be heroes to their
causes; in Florence they are shadows, unable to affect the outside
world.
In his appeal filed on Monday, the Washington Post
reports,
Moussaoui said he lied on the stand because he assumed
he would be executed “based on the emotions and anger toward me for
the deaths on Sept. 11.” But he was “extremely surprised” at the
jury’s verdict, he said, and now believes “it is possible I can
receive a fair trial even with Americans as jurors.”
Sorry Zac, that boat has sailed. But you’ll have the rest of your
life to ponder this: What some see as good-hearted slobbery on the
part of the American people seems, as they say, to have worked out
in mysterious ways.
