Suicide Bombers Do Not Show Real Bravery
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Roy Williams states (“Placing Courage in Social Context,” letter, May 2) that “the bravery of a suicide bomber is no more in doubt than the bravery of a Sept. 11 hero.” This is an insult to the truly brave.
Suicide is simply an escape--from real or imagined suffering, from responsibility, from self-loathing or from prosecution for one’s actions. It’s also forbidden by both the Bible and the Koran. As Williams correctly notes, intentional killing of unarmed, noncombatant civilians is “evil” and considered both a crime and unethical throughout much of the world.
Suicide bombers kill innocents to make a point and simultaneously ensure their own cowardly escape from responsibility and punishment. Real bravery would be to stay home and defend family, friends and community from military attack, risking capture or death by their enemy’s hands, not by their own.
Jacques Du Long
Manhattan Beach
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