Introduction 

An episode of NCIS: New Orleans I watched recently made a big deal of collateral damage. A military raid to capture, if not fatally eliminate, an evil terrorist resulted in the deaths of the man’s wife and son. The botched raid was treated as a horrible mistake, covered up by the CIA. It became the occasion for blackmail during the Crab Mentality episode. So many relatives and people close to evil men get killed in punitive raids and sieges of enemy cities. It again raises for me the question: Just how evil is collateral damage?

Biblical Examples

The Bible has several examples of whole populations of cities wiped out because Yahweh allowed enemy troops to overrun those cities. He sent Jonah to warn the huge city of Nineveh of coming destruction. The prophet balked and ran the other direction because he knew if the populace repented with fasting and cries for mercy, that Yahweh would hold off that destruction. Jonah did not want the evil city and enemy of Israel to repent and be preserved. Yahweh had to remind His spokesman that “a hundred and twenty thousand people (children) who cannot tell their right hand from their left…” were at risk (Jonah 4:11).

On the other hand, when the nation of Israel came out of forty years in the Wilderness and destroyed armies east of the Jordan River, the Canaanite population of the Promised Land quaked with fear (Joshua 2:9-11). They expected God Almighty to use the Israelites to destroy them in their wickedness. 

So it happened with Jericho. Without lifting a sword, the army of Israel watched the impregnable walls of that city fall (Joshua 6). Every man, woman, and child was “devoted to destruction” at Yahweh’s command. Only the family of Rahab was preserved when she hung a red cord out the window of her house built into the wall.

Again, Yahweh allowed the destruction of the rebellious people of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Jesus warned His followers to flee beforehand (Matthew 24:15-21). The Romans either killed or carried off as slaves all who remained in the city. They also destroyed the Temple.

Examples from WWII

In the late 1930s, Hitler sent his followers and the German armies to conquer most of Europe. They hauled away to death camps millions of Jews and other minority populations. In return, the Allied leadership declared “total war” against Germany. Bombing raids did not surgically strike only militarily useful factories and supply depots. Warplanes carpet- bombed whole sections of German cities, wiping out large numbers of German citizens.

In another tragic story of collateral damage, Prime Minister Churchill learned of a coming bombing raid against the city of Coventry in the West Midlands of England. The information came through the Enigma code- breaking system. To keep the secret of Enigma from the Germans, Churchill ordered that Coventry not be warned or protected. The city burned in a massive firestorm from the German bombs. All those people were considered acceptable collateral damage for keeping the Enigma secret.

Examples in Jack Ryan Fiction

In Tom Clancey’s novel, Clear and Present Danger, the CIA engineered two surgical bombing raids on the homes of Columbian drug kingpins. Reporters made a big deal that the bombs also killed the drug lords’ families. The American President made the untrue declaration that the U.S. does not kill innocent family members. The facts of the raids had to be covered up and the President lost his race for re-election.

In The Sum of All Fears, terrorists managed to set off a nuclear bomb in Denver’s Mile High Stadium during the Superbowl. Investigation showed that the bomb was not so powerful that only the Russians could have sent it. Jack Ryan broke diplomatic protocols to prevent the new U.S. President from sending nuclear retaliation against the Russians.

Further investigations accused the religious leader of a Muslim nation of ordering the Denver bombing. Jack again prevented the President from turning a nuclear missile against the city where the religious leader lived. He regarded the population of that city too much collateral damage to get only one man, however evil.

In Executive Orders, now-President Ryan worked mightily to repair the U.S. government after a madman killed its highest leaders. He also had to deal with 

• a terrorist attack on his family
• a terrorist spreading of biowarfare across America
• and an assassination attempt against himself.

Investigations learned that the religious leader of that Muslim country did order these attacks as well as a military attack against his fellow Muslim neighbors.

In the end, President Ryan threatened the mass destruction of one obstructing nation until its leader backed down from hindering U.S. raids against the Muslim nation’s military attacks. Then, Jack ordered the surgical bombing of the evil religious leader’s house. Only that man and the people close to him were killed. There was minimal collateral damage .

Wrong Relatives, Wrong Places

So again, just how evil is collateral damage? Innocent family members tend to live with, love, and support evil men and women. When soldiers carry out raids to at least stop, if not bring those evil ones to justice, so often they also destroy innocent family members. 

Modern Western morality detests such collateral damage. Each person must pay for his or her own evil deeds, not their nearby loved ones (Ezekiel 18:1-4). On the other hand, the Bible shows that rulers motivated by evil principalities and powers contaminate their populations. It allows for those people to be destroyed. Yahweh judged the people of Canaan as overflowing with wickedness and He sentenced them to be destroyed by His invading people. 

The German people (including the churches) first allowed Hitler and his followers to take control of their country. Then they were cowed into believing and following the Nazi’s evil ways. Germany was sentenced to the destruction of total war.

When soldiers conduct raids to stop the evil of terrorist leaders, the deaths of innocent bystanders will happen. Such collateral damage must be tolerated as part of the cost of war against evil, not condemned as evil itself.