9.06.2006

Simple Thought #2: War

The saying goes that you should never discuss religion or politics. As a Christ follower, it's impossible to abide by the first suggestion. And since I don't really think war should be a political subject, I'll go ahead and talk about it.

War: Generally speaking, I gotta think Christ would oppose war. By nature, it seems to go against his nature.

The War On Terror: I believe we were attacked on Sept. 11 by an enemy that wants to devastate our way of life. I think there is a true war on terrorism that needs to be fought...one that we need to win if we value freedom and democracy.

The War In Iraq: I'm not so sure Iraq was the most pressing or strategic place for us to engage in the war on terrorism. Saddam is a bad, bad dude and I'm sure he had lots of weapons. I'm not so sure he was the biggest threat at the time or that invading Iraq to set it's citizens free was the best response to 911. War is devastating, so it seems like if we are going to engage in it, we better get it right. It's really hard for me to accept the idea that the people of Iraq are better off today than they were four years ago.

Simple thoughts. Unfortunately I think they are simple thoughts on a tough issue that will plague us for a long time.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Agree. Agree. Agree. Simple but good thoughts on the subject. It's tough right now to make the case that we're safer because of the Iraq War. In fact, we can easily make the case that we're less safe because of it. And we have lost some moral ground (though I'm not sure what moral ground is left after we think about such things as Japanese-Americans in WWII, Dresden, Hiroshima, Vietnam, Noriega, Marcos, etc.) when today the president admitted that we've been running secret CIA prisons. There may be times when war is justifiable thought undesirable. But there's also a price to pay when it's wage, and dead soldiers aren't the only price we're paying right now. That's my two cents.

Anonymous said...

First of all, I'm curious to the fact, that, at the time of this comment, there are currently 10 comments on your "Starbucks" post - this comment will be merely the second on this topic. Curious.

I'm not going to say that I agree with everything that you've said... (honestly, I think this is a bigger topic with many, many more implications and complications behind it that people like us will never know.) but I'll say that I see your point... and I can agree with a lot of it.

All I know is that since 9/11, we've not experienced any "on US soil" attacks... and we've prevented at least one big one that we know of... and who knows how many got scrubbed because of our beefed up policies. Iraq? no idea... everyone that I've talked to that's been over there says pretty much the same thing... that it's so complicated, who knows if it will ever be a non-threat. Part of that complication comes within the people of Iraq themselves (today the new Iraqi Parliment was considering a motion to divide the country into 3 parts...if not seperate countries.)

I would say that, whether right or wrong... something's been started over there... and I pray that God watch over it, and heal it. Soon. I'm tired of some of my best friends having to go over there... and me having to pray for them to come back.

Simple thoughts on a very not simple subject.