What to say?
I've finally read Pete's posts and comments. Work and my choir have kept me very busy so I don't always read the blog every day.
I've refrained from posting because I still struggle with the war and the morality of it. On one side, I see a murderous tyrant who, unlike Fidel Castro, is not content with lording over his people and living out his twightlight in relative obscurity but rather one who active seeks the destruction of the West, the expansion of his regime and the construction of and use of weapons of mass destruction. Brutality and evil are personified in him.
(Side note: My biggest disappointment in recent months has been seeing Cardinals on diplomatic missions to the middle east. The likes of Tariq Aziz and Yasser Arafat are shown embracing and smiling with Princes of the Church. What sort of diplomatic campaign is the Church engaged in? What are the intended results? Does anyone really think that the likes of Saddam Hussein, Yasser Arafat and Osama bin Laden can be negotiated with? It's as if the mission is just a photo op for the tyrants and nothing more.)
On the other side is the horror of war. Regardless of our might, the precision of our weapons and the will of our people - innocents will die. Is Saddam to blame? Ultimately I believe he is. I believe the coalition is doing everything it can, even at greater risk to its own soldiers, to minimize the effects on the civilian population.
Still, the Pope has said this is an immoral war and that it should never have happened. All sides could have spent more time at the table and divised a way to contain the current Iraqi regime, if not overthrow it without war. So I'm afraid I can't support the war without some reservations - driven mainly by the words of the Pope.
And yet, I believe the ultimate cause is grave and the end will be just: the US will liberate the Iraqi people and as with Germany and Japan, will pours millions into rebuilding the nation. Eric, one of our fellow Catholic Light writers, is a Marine with a unit whose job is to oversee relations with the civilian population in areas the Allies are operating in. He'll probably be personally delivering food and water to Iraqi children. And his three children wait for him at home, too young to understand why he's gone or how important his mission is.
I'm sad to see Pete go, even for a while. I appreciate his insight and regret that he feels overwhelmed by events and opinions.
Now is the time for prayer and sacrifice.
