Dan Butler: My personal condolences to the families of killed people.

A friend in Volgograd recently lost a dear friend in Chechnya.
So I wish to take a moment to drop the public rhetorical arguments over whom this week's most popular victims or villians are.  First, to express my personal condolences to all friends and families of Russians who have lost their lives this year, both in Chechnya, and in the Metro bombing in Moscow.

As an American, I apologize for the lack of notice taken here for the innocent men and women killed merely trying to go to their jobs.  These senseless deaths are no less to be moured in the USA than the victims of the World Trade Center bombing were randomly murdered.

I also include condolences for the families and friends of the innocent Spaniards killed in the train bombing in Madrid.
I also offer my personal, heart felt condolences to the innocent
children, women, and men killed by U.S. missles, tanks, and other weapons as 'collateral damage' during and following the invasion of Iraq.  These Iraqi lives deserve no less respect.

All of us, everywhere, must think of what we are saying and thinking. But more importantly, what we are feeling about all these deaths.

Cheering the death of the innocent majority anywhere, who live under any flag, is deplorable.

My definition of terrorist, is the one who wants ALL his enemies dead. As the terrorists who bombed the Moscow Metro want every Russian dead. As the ones who beheaded a well-meaning liberal American Jew last week, want every American dead. And yes, as those who order missle attacks that destroy entire neighborhoods, aren't concerned about how many innocent people they kill.   Can anyone justify the honor of their cause, whatever it is, with such disregard for innocents?

Any reader, who has been personally the cheering of the death of any Muslim, or any Russian, or any American, please pause to consider that the vast majority of these thousands dying now are like you.  They may have been serving their countries military from their own patriotism, or they may have only been going to their jobs to support their family.  Or they may have simply been sleeping in the wrong part of their town when missles or bombs ended their lives in their sleep.

All of these normal lives cut short is a tragedy.  Let us respect them all, lest random death becomes just another way of 'keeping score'.

Dan Butler
Santa Fe, New Mexico
USA