Blessed Are the Peacemakers

In this season of extensive military involvements it may seem to some that a failure to formally support the war is somehow unpatriotic. G.K Chesterton once wrote that to say,”‘My country right or wrong’ is a thing that no patriot would think of saying except in a desperate case.” He said, “It’s like saying, ‘My mother, drunk or sober.’”
Easter week gave us casualties in this present conflict in Iraq nearing 27,000 with 4000 of those being fatalities. Wars leave wounds that in some cases never heal. Our finest young men and women are being “voluntarily” called into service with monetary incentives and promises of educational opportunities. For many it is a means of escaping reality of educational opportunities too far removed and the high unemployment rates of local communities. States such as our own have been disproportionately affected. Is it that we are more patriotic, or that our young people are desperate for work?
Some may well benefit from the experiences of training, discipline, and cooperation instilled by time in military service, but we would do well to remember the cost to those who leave dreams behind on the battlefields. It is time for an accounting that few of us are seeing or thinking about. Who benefits? Is it those of another nation now entering 5 years of daily fighting in its streets? The neighboring countries whose communities are filled to overflowing with war refugees seeking safety? Those who have been released from the oppressions of a strongman dictator that our own government once helped to gain power? The questions are hard ones, and already too late, but what beyond the greed for oil lying beneath this distant nation, do we really believe is the legitimate justification for the prolonged presence of US forces?
This war is neither revitalizing our economy nor encouraging positive developments for the future. We are undermining our relationships with allies as a nation and showing little more than stubbornness in our refusal to comprehend the internal conflicts within the country we have occupied that have been present for generations. Jesus said, “Those who live by the sword die by the sword.” Everyone recognizes, “Its complicated.” But I for one think it is time for patriotic persons to understand the importance of sharing their convictions about legitimate reasons for war in such a way that we require a qualified demonstration of necessity before military engagements are initiated. Forcing our fine military to take on the task of “policing” the failures of diplomacy is a sad mission statement for our military, especially when that diplomacy has not been elevated to a priority before war. Too often, we are dealing with international conflicts of our own making, created by our own misjudged actions. Too often, we are sending armed forces without any declaration of war at all.
“War on terror” may be a rally cry for those whose vision is telescoped exclusively to the painful memory of 9-11, but the realities of “pre-emptive” conflict initiated toward a country with NO ties to that event have been disastrous…economically, ethically, and spiritually. There was also this month a full report from the Pentagon noting no evidence of any ties between Al Qaeda and Iraq prior to the war. We have made a mess; we have initiated a regime change, but only to offer the prospect of a long line of conflicts to follow.
I commend every soldier who has taken up the tasks requested on behalf of our nation and its security. I am proud of each of them. But I am also prideful enough of our nation to expect better of those who decide such matters as taking up arms…to do so apart from the manipulations of those who see war as a business to be encouraged for the sake of windfall profit-taking rather than a necessary sacrifice for national defense and the true freedoms we espouse. Nations that are “bought and sold” by corporate actions will never be the nations of the people, by the people or for the people. That includes our own.