Wielding God's Rocket-Propelled Grenade Launcher

To the Editor:

In regards to the article on March 19 about Iraq. It is baffling to read that so many religious leaders have joined the liberals of this country in wanting us to cut and run from Iraq.

Yes, it looks as though President Bush and so many other leaders of this world may have been duped into believing that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.

Bishop Moynihan stated, "The price of war has been both human and financial." Again I say that if we all supported this effort to stamp out evil, these costs would be greatly reduced and the world would be a much better place to live.

Bill

Wow. It's 'baffling' that religious leaders are coming out as being opposed to a voluntary war, begun on what Bill here admits was false information, that has lead the US occupation of Iraq and the destabilization of that nation to the extent that the only experts who don't describe it as being on the brink of civil war are those who claim it's already engaged in one. Yeah, totally friggin' mind-blowing how some of these candy-assed, peace-loving men of the cloth have the audacity to criticize a true man of God like G.W.

Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. - Matthew 5:9

Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away. Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; - Matthew 5:42-44

And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. - Mark 12:30-32

But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. - Luke 6:35

Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. - Matthew 5:38-40

Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. - Matthew 7:17-19

And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. - Luke 11:4

Huh. Maybe the better question is, why haven't more religious leaders, especially those with obvious political aspirations, come out against the occupation?

Look, first of all, it gets a little tiresome to hear the neocons engage in perpetual self-delusion. If you want to claim that only liberals are looking for an exit strategy from Iraq, that's fine, but you'd better be willing to concede that 61% of the population is made up of liberals, since that's how many believe it's time for at least a gradual pull-out. You'll also have to come to terms with the fact that 72% of our military men and women are yellow-bellied libs too, since that's the percentage of polled troops who believe a clear exit strategy is now essential, according to a very recent Zogby poll. I somehow doubt you really want to accept that, Bill, and rightfully so... liberals are simply the political opposite of conservatives, and the numbers are about equal. The thing is, there are a lot more of us somewhere in the middle, and we're not so devoted to a political ideology that we're willing to take six years of constant misinformation and secrecy, bend over, and ask for more. What you on the far-right seem to have trouble understanding is that you're extremists too, just like the far-lefties, and moderates and independents know that as fanatics, you can be just as dangerous as they can be. I think it's ironic that so many staunch conservatives throw around terms like 'moonbat,' 'pinko,' and 'commie' to describe liberals, and then go home to watch Fox News and think that they're part of the political center of the nation. If there's nothing in the mainstream that's to the right of you, then you're to the far right of mainstream politics. It's not that difficult a concept to grasp. It's also not a bad thing... there have to be people making up both sides of the bell curve, and you're to the right of center. Deal with it. You're important to the political landscape, but no more so than those on the other side.

It's good to know that the far right is finally beginning to concede that the information that led us into Iraq was invalid. It's about time. Of course, you felt the need to qualify the statement by pointing out that so many other world leaders were duped as well. Perhaps you're correct. However, the rest of the world was not duped to the extent that they wanted to undermine the work of the UN weapons inspectors and proceed with a full-scale invasion based on what amounted to rather sketchy intelligence. The invasion of Iraq was almost universally condemned, even by some of our staunchest allies, and those nations who supported us have since paid a political price, losing approval with their ever-more anti-American constituencies. If the entire world is equally responsible for our invasion of Iraq, an invasion the administration was determined to carry out regardless of evidence or global support, as recent documents out of Britain prove, then it seems strange that it has caused the US to become ostracized around the globe. During Condoleezza Rice's visit to England, a soccer team refused to play while she was there, two knighted entertainers refused to meet with her, and more than half of the parents of children at a local school kept their children home on the day she was visiting the school. All of this in a conservative, working-class city in the heart of our closest ally. Of course, back when we started this occupation, the far right boasted that America didn't need the rest of the world, and that we could do fine without those European pansies, and they could all go straight to hell. Yeah, we sure showed them, huh? No WAY this is going to damage US credibility for decades to come.

Of course, the most priceless part of your little diatribe is your assurance that if only Americans would come together and support the occupation of Iraq, we would save money and lives. I'm curious as to how your math works, Bill. As far as I can tell, the current administration has paid no mind to the anti-war movement in this country. Opposition to the occupation has had absolutely no influence on policy, a fact about which the administration proudly boasts (although less so recently, for some reason.) So what is this great change that would sweep across the landscape of Iraq if Americans simply stopped thinking critically and started buying into the bullshit en masse? Would the 8 billion dollars in misappropriated reconstruction funds suddenly resurface with a note of apology from the corrupt contractors? Would US troops have gotten the armor they needed, or been deployed in the numbers originally requested by ground commanders? Would thousands of years of sectarian mistrust be eradicated from the population of Iraq? Would hundreds of thousands of foreign insurgents not have poured into Iraq for the chance to fight the infidels at the expense of a sovereign nation? Would the military be able to maintain morale without misleading the troops into believing that the invasion was in retaliation for Saddam Hussein's role in the 9/11 attacks, as almost 90% of polled soldiers claimed to believe? If we all just believed, really hard, would the fairies come and whup some insurgent ass? What exactly has the ever-increasing lack of support for the situation in Iraq done to influence our policy there in such a way as to cause our financial costs and military casualties to increase? The simple fact is, that it's had virtually no influence one way or the other, something that the administration is starting to feel the effects of. Since this administration is now mired in the Iraqi occupation, and since support for that occupation has diminished dramatically with no change in policy, Republican lawmakers, many of whom face a daunting challenge this November, are distancing themselves from the President. They know that a President who ignores a 35% approval rating for his policies is not a very desirable political ally, and even the most batshit conservative legislators, like Rick Santorum, manage to 'get caught in traffic' when scheduled to have a fundraiser with the President or someone from his administration.

Look, we know that you on the far right threw in all your chips on Bush. He was supposed to be better than Reagan, the F.D.R. of conservatism, and the saving grace of the religious right and the conservative isolationists. You know what? He let you down. He did what was expected of him, but he wasn't honest when he was doing it, and the bullshit was inevitably going to surface. Instead of rallying the nation around successful policies and moderate foreign policy like Reagan did, he manipulated fear and insecurity to advance goals that did nothing to actually address those concerns. I know it's difficult to let go of someone you've supported so diligently, and chances are those of you still clinging to the security blanket of supporting Bush will do so to the bitter end, but the sooner we can admit that this little experiment in shifting American policy drastically to the right has failed, leaving the nation bitterly divided, globally shunned, and more insecure than we were 6 years ago, the sooner we can repair the damage. It's fine to be a conservative. Conservatism has many virtues. Those virtues can't compensate for the failure of an extremist-driven administration, however. My biggest fear, outside of an American theocracy, is a political pendulum effect that causes the balance to shift too far to the left in response to the incompetence of this administration, setting into motion a pattern of overcorrecting that will continue to divide the nation for decades. The only thing that can stop this from happening is for many of the Americans who currently find their identity in partisan politics to embrace cooperation and moderation...

Yeah, you're right. We've got a better chance at summoning the fairies.