Who Would Martin Luther King Bomb?

01-15-2011 • AntiWar.com

Dr. Martin Luther King’s outspoken opposition to the war in Vietnam put him neatly in the milieu of modern Christian non-violence that started with the religious writings of Leo Tolstoy, and which had impacts well beyond Christendom (Gandhi’s interest in non-violence, for instance, was heavily influenced by Tolstoy). The answer, then, to who would MLK bomb is pretty clearly “no one.” But he’s been dead for quite awhile, and people may be a little vague on who exactly the fellow was and what he stood for. To that end, Pentagon officials are now making it clear, they’re pretty sure Dr. King was a hawk. Jeh Johnson, the Pentagon’s general council, has informed the public that he is pretty sure, were Dr. King alive today he would be strongly in favor of the US occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, because “he would recognize that we live in a complicated world.” Johnson’s argument begins and ends with Dr. King’s fondness for the parable of the “Good Samaritan,” and his (Johnson’s) assumption that no one is a better Samaritan than US occupation forces. In case you’re not thoroughly confused, Johnson closed by announcing “every day, our servicemen and women practice the dangerousness – the dangerous unselfishness Dr. King preached.” So there you have it, the Pentagon’s history has MLK as a danger junkie, and nobody rocks the danger like occupation forces.