Give Peace A Chance

There's no denying it. The peaceniks were right. The war in Iraq was a bad idea. We've killed "their" soldiers. "Our" soldiers have died as well. And then there are the poor civilians. I know Saddam Hussein was a big mean doo-doo head, but we didn't invade Iraq b/c of Hussein's doo-doo headedness. We invaded Iraq b/c of inaccurate information that he was an international threat. We shabbily tried to connect the whole ordeal to the U.S. being attacked on 9-11. And now YEARS later (longer than our involvement in WW2), Iran and North Korea ARE international threats, the master-mind behind the 9-11 attacks remains free, OUR civil liberties have been watered down in the name of "national security" and Iraq is in total chaos. Our presence there hasn't stabilized them, it has weakened them and allowed civil war. So, our imperial march on Iraq is in every measurable sense a failure. It's time to admit it.

I'm not saying we need to hold Bush/Cheney, et al. accountable (why start now?). But I don't think its in any way an insult to our troops or our national pride to say that the war was wrong from the beginning and has failed in any case.

Maybe those who say you can't punish a crime with a crime are right. Maybe those who say violence NEVER leads to peace are right. Maybe its time to reestablish some global goodwill toward the U.S. We had the world's sympathy after 9-11. We managed to waste it and replace it with international scorn. And even that might be OK if anything good had come from it, but apparently nothing good has resulted from our cowboy, hot-headed, rush in with guns a-blazin' attitudes and policies.

As we near the season when Christians celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace, maybe we will finally and seriously consider the wisdom of working for peace, health, justice, and prosperity in all the world.