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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us July 11, 2005 ‘Mysterium Iniquitatis’ Some years back, not long after 9/11, the late Pope John Paul II was asked to explain the presence of evil in the world. He paused and then said that it represented “mysterium iniquitatis.” What he meant was that there was no definitive answer to acts of inexplicable barbarity such as those that were witnessed on that early fall day in New York, Washington D.C., and an empty pasture in Pennsylvania. Or that which occurred in London on 7/7. Evil exists in the world. But how can we comprehend the existence of people, anywhere, who would leave behind on subway or bus a backpack filled with explosives, rigged to a timer, and then walk away, knowing that within minutes of their departure there will be a detonation of such force that countless innocents will be killed and maimed? Or in the extreme, have a cummerbund of explosives and ball bearings wrapped around their middle, a detonator in one hand, prepared to commit suicide in the name of — what? To accomplish what? We look into the face of evil, into the mysterium iniquitatis, and we can only shake our heads in stunned disbelief. Who would do such a thing? What manner of persons? And we know that despite the measures put into place by politicians and police that we are, in the end, helpless to prevent it. There is no ultimate refuge. If people are intent on using the freedoms we hold so dear against us, to prey on the unsuspecting, to infiltrate and plot the demise of young and old alike, then we truly cannot stop them, without abandoning the very freedoms that we hold not only self-evident but essential. So, we ask ourselves, what to do? How to respond? How to penetrate the mysterium iniquitatis. We can bring to bear all of the resources of the international community and attempt to find the small cell of perpetrators. And if they can be found, bring them to the bar of justice. Or kill them. But we do so knowing full well that, like in Madrid, in Africa, in countless places around the globe, we are addressing a manifestation of something that reaches far deeper into the human condition than we yet fully understand. To answer those questions — who and why? — is not just the responsibility of the Western nations, Britain or the United States. It is clearly incumbent on the Arab states as well to join with the world community, step forward and fearlessly speak the truth. From what wellspring of abiding anger and murderous rage is all of this coming from? Is it the grinding poverty of Middle Eastern countries? The demented teachings of twisted imams who trade in the language of division, meaning “us against the infidels”? If there are chasms between belief systems as expressed in the West and in the East, how can the singular act of leaving a package of explosives on a bus filled with commuters ameliorate anything? Al-Qaida in Europe can say that it takes responsibility for the London attack. But then what? What is the abiding grievance? What is the proffered solution? The war on terror is not just about killing the enemy, or about defeating an insurgency. Every nation, every people, must insist that ultimate causes be identified and ultimate solutions be implemented. To do any less will mean that our lives and those of our children will be defined by terror. It will mean that this new millennium will be the beginning of a war that has no end, leaving in its wake the tragically broken bodies of thousands upon thousands of people whose only wish, as was the case in England on that early morning on 7/7, is, simply, to go to work and then go home. DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Deep Muscle Stimulator Ceramic Piggy Banks FREE Entertainment Guide Women's & Men's Slippers Accelerate Weightloss Products Backpacks Online Pharmacy Vegas Travel Guide Search Engine Optimization Student Loans Hotel & Airline Reservations Hammocks Water Filter Helzberg Diamonds Online Casinos Community Bonus Casino Mortgage Calculator Security Systems Mailing Lists Click Here Advertisement .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams