The Politically Incorrect Assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh

In Murder Most Incorrect, Paul Mirengoff addresses the assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, a founding member of Hamas and its arms dealer, who is connected to the kidnapping and murder of 2 Israeli soldiers.

After mentioning the uproar over the use of forged British passports and exploiting other people's identities, Mirengoff notes that this does not begin to cover the improprieties involved:

But passport fraud and identity theft hardly exhaust the ways in which the slaying of Mabhouh affronts modern sensibilities. For example, the photos of the 11 suspects raise questions about the diversity of the team Mossad (or whomever) assembled. It includes only one woman (an attractive blond,naturally) and looks to be short on people of color.


There is also no indication that the team advised Mabhouh of his rights or offered him a chance to exculpate himself before he was killed. Indeed, from all that appears, no lawyer was present.

Finally, what about the carbon footprint of the operation? Did the team travel to Dubai in an energy efficient way? And how much electricity did they use once they arrived? Some reports say they used electricity to stun Mabhouh before killing him. Couldn't he have been executed in a more energy efficient way?

A certain amount of nastiness is inevitable in today's world. But this doesn't mean that protocol, equal opportunity, and principles of good environmental stewardship should fall by the wayside.

Mirengoff's satirical swipe at what world reaction considers to be important illustrates how far downhill we have gone in losing sight of the forest for the trees.

Technorati Tag: Mahmoud al-Mabhouh.