This is something I wrote, never published, in the worst days of our Iraq War. A May 31, 2013 Michigan Catholic news item notes, "Iraq has witnessed the emigration of more than half of its native Christians since the American-led invasion of the country in 2003." In the past two months violence there is on the upsurge, with more than 2000 deaths many see related to the surge of war hostility in Syria. The words of Pope Paul II below are instructive. When will we ever learn.
{note how Doonesberry, Fox News, and Michigan Catholic tell the same story}
October 14, 2005
Does anyone else see the amazing inconsistency in the Iraqi and American authorities declaring four days of national imposed holiday / martial law in order to have an election on a new democratic constitution? The AP story on 10-14-05 opens, “U.S. Marines handed out thousands of fliers and copies of Iraq’s new constitution Thursday, urging people to vote in this Sunni Arab town [Haditha] that only a week ago was the target of U.S. airstrikes.” [Haditha has been a place of great tragedy that illustrates well the human cost of wars of occupation—more on this in next week’s posting] Instead of campaign rallies they’re given bombardments. The best one can say is at least they now have some semblance of voting holiday there, while here in the USA we have no day off for our national elections.
Pope John Paul II warned us of the
absolute futility of war to bring any good, even to the victors, in his letter
Centesimus Annus in 1991 at the time of our first Iraq war. "No, never again war, which destroys the
lives of innocent people, teaches how to kill, throws into upheaval even the
lives of those who do the killing and leaves behind a trail of resentment and
hatred, thus making it all the more difficult to find a just solution of the
very problems which provoked the war." The common citizens of our nation
are much worse off because of the U.S. government’s dependency on war
[Eisenhower called it a military industrial complex] as sole provider of security,
while the poor here and abroad repeatedly suffer death and destruction.
It does not
have to be this way. If everyone of us
in this land, once a source of democracy, that is against this war (and we are
60% according to surveys, or 70% or more if truth were told) decides to spend
two hours a day in work and prayer, to stop this war and start the peacemaking,
each from our own points of creative leverage, then our war of invasion in Iraq
would end within six months.
International efforts at real disarmament and conflict resolution could
then begin in Iraq--and here at home.
When Jesus said, “Put away the sword!” he wasn’t talking to the enemy,
but first to his own disciples.
Yours truly,
Michael McCarthy PA-C
War is as predictable as a wildfire in Arizona {19 killed in a sudden shift of wind}. The only thing certain is that the evil and suffering caused in this war, is the clever bad seed for the next.
We've just celebrated our "Declaration of Independence," July 4th-- our hope for a people's democracy, not a corporate plutocracy. Without an informed involved public this hope dies. We have much work and praying to do.
June 18, 2013--Zeinab,her daughters and grandchildren fled to Syria 10 years ago to escape sectarian violence in Iraq but are back in Basrah because of heavy fighting and increasing violence against women in Syria
Iraq refugee references
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/iraqs.christian.population.halved.since.2003/7204.htm
http://www.christianpost.com/news/iraqi-christian-refugees-seeking-asylum-unable-to-enter-us-63424/
And a truly remarkable story of the difficulty of all Iraqis to enter America--
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/499/taking-names
Illumination by Kathy Brahney
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