A Hunting We Will Go

During a House committee's questioning of Attorney General Eric Holder on March 16, Rep. John Culberson (R-TX) complained about using law enforcement tactics and civilian trials for alleged terrorists, explaining: "Texans understand that when you are at war the goal is to hunt down your enemy and either kill them or capture them."

Be very, very quiet, everyone...we're hunting rabbits...er, I mean, terrorists...

When I heard Rep. Culberson's quote on NPR the following morning, my first thought was of Elmer Fudd singing "Kill The Wabbit" as he hunted down Bugs Bunny in an old cartoon. However, a little bit of research, such as entering the phrases "hunt down your enemy" and "kill them" into a search engine, reveals how popular this tempting base instinct has become, from Clint Eastwood's westerns and "Dirty Harry" movies to dozens of video and computer games in which the instructions to the player are no more complicated than Rep. Culberson's instructions to our soldiers.

The problem is, Rep. Culberson has got it wrong. Hunting down people as if they were animals is not our goal, nor should it be. A civilized nation, which is what we aspire to be, is supposed to be above that sort of thing, and the various attempts by nations to write down some rules of war have reflected that. For instance, the Hague Convention of 1907 included among a list of forbidden actions "to declare that no quarter will be given". But the document that Rep. Culberson and his fellow wabbit-hunters should really brush up on is the U.S. Army Field Manual on Operations, FM 3-0, which states the following:

"The disciplined and informed application of lethal and nonlethal force is a critical contributor to successful Army operations and strategic success. All warfare, but especially irregular warfare, challenges the morals and ethics of Soldiers. An enemy may feel no compulsion to respect international conventions and indeed may commit atrocities with the aim of provoking retaliation in kind. Any loss of discipline on the part of Soldiers is then distorted and exploited in propaganda and magnified through the media. The ethical challenge rests heavily on small-unit leaders who maintain discipline and ensure that the conduct of Soldiers remains within ethical and moral boundaries. There are compelling reasons for this. First, humane treatment of detainees encourages enemy surrender and thereby reduces friendly losses. Conversely, nothing emboldens enemy resistance like the belief that U.S. forces will kill or torture prisoners. Second, humane treatment of noncombatants reduces their antagonism toward U.S. forces and may lead to valuable intelligence. Third, leaders make decisions in action fraught with consequences. If they lack an ethical foundation, those decisions become much, much harder. Finally, Soldiers must live with the consequences of their conduct. Every leader shoulders the responsibility that their subordinates return from a campaign not only as good Soldiers, but also as good citizens with pride in their service to the Nation."

Fortunately, it is these words of guidance which our soldiers are obligated to follow, not the vigilante rantings of John Culberson.

Aside from playing video games, the other source for Culberson's bloodlust may be the following passage from Leviticus 26:7, in which God promises the people of Israel that if they observe his commandments, "You shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword" (the New International Reader's Version puts it even closer to Culberson's language: "You will hunt down your enemies. You will kill them with your swords."). Conservative Christians love to quote from the book of Leviticus, because it seems to set up an easy-to-follow moralistic universe which they no doubt find comforting. However, they seem to forget that most of the teachings of Jesus in the New Testament, which they claim to believe, refutes those older teachings. As Jesus is quoted as saying in Matthew 5:43-45, "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust."

If Jesus showed up today and tried saying things like that, he'd be accused of being soft on terrorism and run out of town quicker than you could say "kill the wabbit."