The editors of the Arizona Republic recently stated that “there is a danger in making policy by anecdote” in regards to the lawsuit filed against the state of Arizona by children in the Arizona foster care system.
This should apply to the statement by Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) today in the wake of the confirmation of the death of Kayla Mueller in Syria, who was held captive by ISIS.
In an interview with the Arizona Republic today:
Rep. Paul Gosar, whose district includes Prescott, said in a phone interview that the U.S. should loosen the rules of engagement that protect civilians, saying that American forces are limited by, for example, having to ensure buildings are cleared of civilians before bombing. “It’s like in American Sniper,” he said. “Are you prepared to kill a 10-year-old carrying an improvised explosive device?”
Why stop there? Why not the usual unhinged “Kill ’em all! Let God sort ’em out”?
Gosar wants military rules of engagement based upon Hollywood’s embellishment of the life of Chris Kyle. The anecdote Gosar cites did not actually occur. American Sniper fact vs. fiction: How accurate is American Sniper?:
Film and memoir begin with near-identical opening sequences: Kyle sees a woman and a few children on the otherwise-empty street of an Iraqi town through his sniper scope. In the movie, Kyle sees this woman remove a grenade from beneath her dress and hand it to her child. He shoots the child, and when the woman wails and picks up the grenade shoots her as well. He visually shows guilt, blinking, sniffling, and refusing the congratulations of his fellow sailor.
However, according to the memoir, Kyle shot only a woman that day, not a child, and he felt no guilt about it: “It was my duty to shoot, and I don’t regret it.” It was his first kill with a sniper rifle, though he had not yet completed his sniper training. In his writing, Kyle calls the woman “evil” and reveals that many people, including himself, referred to Iraqis as “savages.”
Rep. Gosar wants the U.S. military to kill civilians out of revenge and fear of a terrorist organization, based upon a fictional scene in a movie. Morally his position is the same as the ISIS terrorists who kill wantonly and indiscriminately. This is not the code of the U.S. military. It is not who we are as Americans.
This manages to surpass Rep. Gosar’s previous level of stupidity in standing with Cliven Bundy at his Nevada ranch last summer in support of this deadbeat rancher who refused to pay his federal grazing fees like every other rancher in America, despite a lawful court judgment, and taking up arms against federal law enforcement officers because “freedom!” (Five Tea-Publican Arizona state legislators also took the trip to Nevada to stand with Bundy — Tea-Publican Representatives Bob Thorpe, David Livingston, and Kelly Townsend, as well as Tea-Publican Senators Judy Burges and Kelli Ward.)
Arizona Congressman Paul Gosar, Cliven Bundy, Arizona Sen. Kelli Ward. (h/t downwithtyranny.blogspot.com).
You will recall that former Graham County Sheriff and Patriot Militia leader Richard Mack proposed using women as human shields in an armed confrontation with the federal government at the Bundy Ranch. Bundy Ranch Militias Planned To Use Women As Human Shields.
Rep. Gosar does not put much value in human life, or so it would appear.
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Statement by the President on the Death of Kayla Jean Mueller:
It is with profound sadness that we have learned of the death of Kayla Jean Mueller. On behalf of the American people, Michelle and I convey our deepest condolences to Kayla’s family – her parents, Marsha and Carl, and her brother Eric and his family – and all of those who loved Kayla dearly. At this time of unimaginable suffering, the country shares in their grief.
Kayla dedicated her life to helping others in need at home and around the world. In Prescott, Arizona, she volunteered at a women’s shelter and worked at an HIV/AIDS clinic. She worked with humanitarian organizations in India, Israel, and the Palestinian territories, compelled by her desire to serve others. Eventually, her path took her to Turkey, where she helped provide comfort and support to Syrian refugees forced to flee their homes during the war. Kayla’s compassion and dedication to assisting those in need shows us that even amongst unconscionable evil, the essential decency of humanity can live on.
Kayla represents what is best about America, and expressed her deep pride in the freedoms that we Americans enjoy, and that so many others strive for around the world. She said: “Here we are. Free to speak out without fear of being killed, blessed to be protected by the same law we are subjected to, free to see our families as we please, free to cross borders and free to disagree. We have many people to thank for these freedoms and I see it as an injustice not to use them to their fullest.”
Kayla Mueller used these freedoms she so cherished to improve the lives of others. In how she lived her life, she epitomized all that is good in our world. She has been taken from us, but her legacy endures, inspiring all those who fight, each in their own way, for what is just and what is decent. No matter how long it takes, the United States will find and bring to justice the terrorists who are responsible for Kayla’s captivity and death.
ISIL is a hateful and abhorrent terrorist group whose actions stand in stark contrast to the spirit of people like Kayla. On this day, we take comfort in the fact that the future belongs not to those who destroy, but rather to the irrepressible force of human goodness that Kayla Mueller shall forever represent.
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What constitutes a “civilian” in the war against terrorism?
ARE YOU KIDDING ME!! You’ve all gone around the insanity bend!
No, I haven’t. You are woefully unaware of the type of war we are fighting. The enemy wears no uniforms. They have nothing distinctive that makes them stand out from the crowd. They are drawn from the civilian populace while wearing the same clothes and looking and acting as civilians. Even if they carry a weapon, it doesn’t necessarily mean they are enemy combatants, as many of the men carry weapons for protection of their families. Children and women have routinely picked up rifles and Rocket Propelled Grenades and taken to the field as muhajadin, but you would never know that unless you caught them in the act. Suicide bombers come in all ages and both sexes and they look like everyone else. If terrorists are cornered they hide their weapons and blend into the general population because, again, they look and act just like them.
So, I ask again, what is a “civilian” in the war on terror?
I’ve asked you before, and now I’ll ask you again. Don’t talk down to me like I don’t know anything that’s happening in the world around me. I certainly do. I also know, for a fact, that we wouldn’t have the likes of ISIL were it not for GWB and his Cheney sidekick dragging us into a war that they fabricated lies to start!! As usual, we’re dealing with a flipping crapfest from GWB and his warmonger friends. I, for one, am sick to death of picking up/fixing his damn mess!
I don’t recall you asking me not to question your knowledge of the world around us. I apologize for that oversight and will not do so in the future.
Regardless of why we are in this war, we are in it up to our ears. I had hoped President Obama would get us out of there, but he found it was much harder to come back than it was to go over. My frustration is that we are, once again, in a war where distinguishing enemy from friend is difficult to impossible. We have put our young men and women in impossible situations and we expect them somehow to do that which can’t be done.
In just the last few days, Obama gas asked Congress to give him permission to wage this war into the foreseeable future. Our war plan? To kill as many of the enemy as we can; all the while hoping they don’t kill too many of us in the process. The theory is if we can just pile up enough bodies, eventually the enemy will get tired and quit. It is a discredited tactic in modern times, but it is one we seem to fall back on when cornered.
I have asked twice what constitutes a “civilian” in the war on terror, and I will go ahead and answer my own question. A “civilian” is anyone we haven’t killed because we only kill terrorists. Makes a difficult question rather easy to answer, doesn’t it?
Get your chickenhawk self over there yourself, Gosar, you two faced hypocrite. Better yet have the guts to vote on Presidential authorization to do something. But your useless speaker won’t let anything like that come to a vote. Gutless. Kayla is worth a 100 worthless grandstanding chickenhawks like you.
another damn “profile in courage” that would readily send someone else’s kids to die for his ignorance and arrogance. Thanks for nothing, AZ voters. Might be nice for you to actually know and research who you vote for once and awhile.
http://media.cq.com/members/32387/rc=1
Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.)
Military Service: None