“Even alongside the most cruel attacks of the past, this terrorist act occupies a special place because it was aimed at children…”
This quote by Russian President Vladimir Putin was posted on the CNN.com web site today. The morning edition of the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported in a web story that 322 bodies have been pulled from the rubble of what used to be a school. Most of them were children.
In a companion story in the print edition of the Star Tribune, Associated Press writer William J. Kole states that the Russian tragedy has shown that terrorists no longer hold any respect for what he terms “taboo targets.” The author describes militant actions, using words like “bloodbath”, “slaughterhouse” and “chillingly brazen.”
All the reporting and rhetoric used by commentators and politicians that has transpired and will transpire can simply be reduced to two words…
Children died.
I wept for them this morning.
It is a senseless situation. I liken the terrorists here to the schoolyard bully who wasn’t successful in getting his way by making threats so he finds the weakest, most vulnerable child on the playground and strikes them down. That will show them….
I try to be a reasonable person who attempts to see all sides of a viewpoint. But reason fails me here. I’m sure there will be plenty of self-serving analysis about who is to blame that drives extremists to such acts….
But children died.
I’m sure there will be those who blame U.S. policies and those of others….
But children died.
Casualties of war..”innocents”…
But children died.
I find it impossible to fathom that these extremists would sacrifice the lives of so many to mask their escape. I find no honor or sacrifice in their actions. The deaths here were not a collateral action as the result of nearby bombing or war. This was a deliberate attack on a school full of children. It was planned and well thought out. The terrorists who are responsible for this are cowards.
And children died.