Face to Face

Michael Stone, former Ulster Defence Association comes face to face with the family of Dermot Hackett, killed by him in 1987 in presence of Desmond Tutu and Donna Hicks of Harvard University.
I condemn all use of violence against another human being (other than self defence). If the vicitm is innocent it is all the more unjustifiable.
Michael Stone says Dermot Hackett was an IRA member. As I have pointed out, this does not make his killing less worthy of condemnation.
What is true, though, wether or not Mr Hackett was a 'soldier', is, that as Mr Stone says, in a war you dehumanise yourself. In a war, there are victims, innocent and guilty. That a 'paramilitary' or 'terrorist' dehumanises himself should not be any more shocking than if he were a soldier in a regular army. When a plane fires missiles and drops bombs on cities full of innocent civilians, the soldier is dehumanising himself. Of course, it's obvious, that he will feel less horror being so far removed from the victims. Are his victims any less deserving of sorrow and 'healing' and 'closure' (in the words of Desmond Tutu)?