Murderers for Jesus

“On occasion scientists working on the nuclear program in Iran turn up dead. I think that’s a wonderful thing, candidly.- Rick Santorum

Yesterday, one of my readers was explaining that when you kill a an Iranian civilian in cold blood, that’s “pre-emptive killing, not murder”. “100% Prolife” candidate Rick Santorum holds precisely this view, dissenting from two millennia of Catholic teaching which says that you may never, for any reason, deliberately take innocent human life. Our country is not at war and the Iranian scientist who just got offed was not a combatant. He was a murder victim–which Santorum thinks is wonderful.

One reader, an actual self-identified “FrancoFan” and a fascist responded by saying that no Muslim anywhere is a noncombatant. Therefore it is always legitimate to kill Muslims. Strangely, this apologist for cold-blooded murder of innocents can no longer post here.

Others argued the old “Wouldn’t a well-placed car bomb in 1937 have done wonders for the peace of the world?” Why stop there? Freakonomics fans argue that well-placed abortion clinics in populations prone to a high crime rate have saved us a world of hurt by killing criminals in the womb. Would a well-placed abortion in 1889 have saved the world a lot of trouble?

100% Prolife candidate Rick Santorum, already on record in favor of torture, is now on record as in favor of the murder of civilians on the chance that something or other might happen years from now to justify it. Some people will try to make the claim that he was not a civilian. Sorry, but we are not at war with Iran. The scientist is part of the military-industrial infrastructure of Iran–just like the occupants of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were. If you say it is legitimate to murder him, you are saying it was legitimate for Osama bin Laden to murder his victims on 9/11.

There’s a reason for Just War theory. Santorum should try learning about it. Particularly since if you grant his logic, there’s no reason why you should confine “pre-emptive killing” to swarthy foreigners. As Freakonomics fans make clear, you can (and should) apply the same logic right here at home to unborn babies from the lower classes. Santorum has laid the groundwork for prolifers to find their way back into the pro-abortion fold of the American Empire. How good and pleasant it is when Planned Parenthood and Santorum are on the same page about “pre-emptive killing” of the potentially dangerous. Maybe he can head up the Department of Pre-Crime for our God King.