Why Dr. Karen Woo Died

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/08/british-surgeon-karen-woo-afghanistan

From the days of The Waters of Mullalla through the Heroes of Beslan to the Glorious Defeat of Dr. Karen Woo there is nothing more characteristic of the desperate, homicidal and primitive nature of the peripheral, armed ideologue than the precise, savage attack on the helpless. A hospital target is preferable and if a nunnery is attached, all the better. Rarely a school is available but that, of course, is usually too much to hope (or pray) for. That is the nature of certainty--or sometime the desperate, homicidal and primitive all by itself: The right --or need--to exploit the greatest leverage possible. Who can forget the wild-eyed terror in the eyes of the children in the Beslan school as hard, experienced guerrillas cut them to pieces. And one can easily imagine the similar fear mixed with an adult incomprehension as Dr. Woo and her companions died because they did not know the protective magic phrases from the Koran that their fellow knew.

Total war is easy for the winners to defend. But the losers did not go to war because they were mad in spite of their enemies' slander. The losers had their reasons, formulated in their minds and conferences. And at the core of every homicidal conflict is inevitability, the belief that the combatants have no other option. War is the option to their annihilation.

Years ago the Iroquois, pressed on all sides by the relentless European immigrant, decided to go to war. But trapped as they were against the Great Lakes in the northwest by the bulk of white settlers they needed a second front, preferably in the southwest. They turned to the Creek, a large and well ordered tribe they respected and sent their famous war chief, Tecumseh, to convince them to join their war. Tecumseh stood at the council for three days, silent until the white government observers left. Then he gave a speech that ended thus: "Make war on their men! Make war on their women! Make war on their children! Make war on their dead!" The Creek rose in a rage, joined the Iroquois and fought to the death. Many of the battles had 98% mortality rates with only the leaders escaping to raise another force. One of the white leaders, Andrew Jackson, cemented his reputation in these horrific wars.

"Make war on their dead"? Tecumseh was not mad either. His war was not with these settlers and he knew it. His war was with history. His war was with a culture and its progress; no less a victory over the entire movement of history would protect the Iroquois and the Creek. They were doomed and total war was their only answer. They were in the endgame. They killed everyone they could find, farmers, traders' wives, settlers' children. And the settlers responded in kind. Every battle was to the death; there was no quarter and no surrender. When the military position was overrun, the camps and villages were next and all the women and children were killed. And then they were gone.

A society, a culture, a people backed into a corner will fight like a trapped beast to the death. So will an outlaw. It is very important that a society be able to distinguish between the two. No society wants to be in an endgame with an enemy and not know it.