Right-Wing Exposed

President Bush could not have invaded Iraq without the avid support of his Christian right-wing colleagues. They were there in unison declaring that a preemptive military strike against Iraq would meet the biblical criteria of being a “just war”. They did not quote any New Testament scripture verses to support their declarations, but just assumed that their conservative, Christian sheep would accept and heed their shepherds’ authoritative statements. And, indeed, the vast majority of Christian conservatives wholeheartedly supported our invasion of Iraq, trusting their leaders’ wisdom and biblical integrity.

It is time for someone to address this great lie concerning supposed biblical, Christian “just wars”. The truth is that there is no New Testament support for this “just war” doctrine advocated by Christian right-wing leaders. Jesus said that we are to love our enemies and do good to them, not bomb and torture them. The Apostle Paul said that we are not to repay anyone evil for evil; moreover, that we are not to avenge ourselves because vengeance is God’s, and He will repay. When Peter attempted to use his sword, Jesus told him to put it away because all who use the sword will perish by the sword. And, Jesus stated that His kingdom is not of this world. He said that if His kingdom was of this world, then His servants would fight. However, He then restated that His kingdom is not of this world. Therefore, His servants do not fight.

There is no New Testament support whatsoever for this “just war” spiel. Right-wing, Christian leaders know this, so they refer to wars in the Old Testament that were ordained by God. And, it is true that God did ordain wars for Israel in the Old Testament. However, all of these wars were fought to either acquire, defend or regain the specific piece of land that God had promised to Abraham. God did not ordain wars for Israel to police the world.

America is not fighting in the Middle East to acquire, defend or regain land that God has supernaturally promised to George Bush or any of his right-wing, Christian colleagues. America’s recent wars are efforts to police the world, which has no biblical basis or support whatsoever. And, Christian leaders should be fully aware that their claims of biblical support for this “just war” doctrine are false. I encourage my fellow Christian conservatives to stop this “just war” deception. Thousands of brave American soldiers are dead, and tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians have also perished in this unbiblical war. Enough is enough!

As we near the 500 billion dollar mark in expenditures in Iraq, it is appropriate to ask what we’ve purchased with the half-trillion dollars we’ve spent.  Iraq requires more American troops today to maintain at best a “semi-stability”, than it did five years ago.  And, the Republicans likely presidential nominee, John McCain, has stated that we will still need troops there for a hundred years.  At that rate our total expenditure could be ten trillion dollars.

The fact is that Republicans know that the departure of America’s military from Iraq will probably result in a civil war killing hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians.  What a purchase we’ve made!  We’ve spent 500 billion dollars, but Iraq still can’t function as a civil  and stable nation without a massive American troop presence lasting for another century.

However, it is only fair to admit that our half-trillion dollars has also bought some other things.  It has bought the death of 4000 brave American soldiers, which averages $125 million per soldier.  It has also bought nearly 100,000 Iraqi civilian fatalities, which equals $5 million per civilian.  I’d like to suggest that we could have bought something better.

What could we have bought?  How about $20,000 tuition credits for five million American students in need to enable them to attend college or vocational schools?  How about another $8000 in annual credits for health insurance premiums for ten million poor American families over the past five years?  Instead of buying the deaths of Iraqi civilians and American soldiers, we could have bought education and health to save and improve the lives of millions of American families.

Now that the money is already spent and the lives are already lost, what can we say: “Oops, we could have bought something better”?  Such a response may sound hollow, but it would at least be a step in the right direction; a step of admitting our fatal and costly mistake.  And, right wing Evangelical leaders should join in this step by confessing their own deception in supporting President Bush’s invasion of Iraq, and declaring it to be a biblically “just war”.  I encourage you to listen to yesterday’s podcast titled, “Just War Deception”.

It’s not too late to make a better purchase for the future.  Instead of trillions of additional dollars in Iraq over decades to come, we can choose to purchase education and health for American families.

Is it possible to have a safe, free and peaceful Iraq? Can we exit Iraq with stability and dignity? We can if we’re willing to abandon the cowboy, macho attitude of the Bush Administration.

Our enemy wants the United States military off of Islamic soil, and has offered to negotiate in the past. However, our stubborn President has rejected any possibility of negotiation. His tough rhetoric, that he will not negotiate with terrorists, sounds powerful and impressive. Unfortunately, his bark is worse than his bite.

Conditions in Iraq have greatly deteriorated, and more American soldiers and innocent, Iraqi civilians are dying daily. How many more fatalities are we willing to accept, so that our President can maintain his tough rhetoric and macho attitude? Why shouldn’t we be willing to consider a negotiated compromise that would stop the killing, and provide for a dignified exit from a stable and peaceful Iraq? We would be wise to take advantage of our enemy’s desire to have our military removed from Islamic soil. They have offered to negotiate. We should make them an offer that they can’t resist, but that also requires them to stop the violence completely and immediately.

We have spent hundreds of billions of dollars in Iraq, and have buried thousands of brave, American soldiers. It’s time to stop the killing and outlandish spending. We can do both with some wise and reasonable negotiating, combined with the comparatively modest expenditure of just fourteen billion dollars annually for five years; moreover, we can finance the labor force and military/police force needed to rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan, stimulate their economies and protect them from future insurgencies.

Fourteen billion dollars a year, wisely spent, can accomplish a lot. It would fund a well-trained military/police force of 500,000 troops for both nations. It would also pay for 500,000 infrastructure workers in each country, whose sole jobs would be to rebuild schools, hospitals, roads, power plants, sanitation systems, communication networks etc. Most workers in Iraq and Afghanistan are barely surviving on meager wages, but my proposed, modest, fourteen billion dollar, annual budget would allow us to more than double their current average wages. America would truly be rebuilding their nations, stimulating their economies, significantly improving their standard of living, and providing for their future stability, prosperity and security. All of this could be done for just fourteen billion dollars annually, instead of persisting with the Bush Administration’s failed policy of funding a perpetual cycle of violence costing hundreds of billions, and producing daily American and Iraqi casualties. The total five-year cost of my proposal would cost less than what we’re spending now in Iraq each year!

My proposal provides for a monthly salary of $700 for Afghani and Iraqi police and military personnel, which is more than twice their current average salary. It also allows for a monthly salary of $500 for laborers involved in rebuilding Iraq’s and Afghanistan’s infrastructure. This is between double and quadruple the average common laborer’s wage in these countries. There is no doubt that these jobs would be immediately filled and greatly appreciated; furthermore, they would dramatically improve the standard of living of nearly two million Afghan and Iraqi families, thus greatly stimulating the economies of both nations.

What about the violence? How do we stop the killing? We abandon the stubborn, cowboy, macho mentality of the Bush Administration. Our enemy wants our military off of Islamic soil, and has offered to negotiate in the past. We ought to take advantage of our enemy’s desires. We should offer them what they want in exchange for them giving us what we want; that is, peace, stability and freedom for Iraq and Afghanistan, in exchange for the complete removal of the American military from Islamic soil over a five-year period.

I propose a four step plan in which each of the four steps would be contingent upon our enemy completely refraining from any and all terrorist attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, each of the four steps would provide them ample incentive and motivation to abstain from terrorism.

Step One: We withdraw ten thousand troops from Iraq after each month that Afghanistan and Iraq are both completely free from terrorism. This would enable us to be out of Iraq in fifteen months. And, during this fifteen months of peace, our troops could concentrate solely upon thoroughly training the 500,000 strong military/police forces of both nations.

Step Two: After fifteen consecutive months of no terror attacks, we begin withdrawing our troops from Afghanistan at the rate of between six and seven percent per month for fifteen months, assuming the continued absence of terrorism.

Step Three: Then, we begin withdrawal from Kuwait at the rate of between six and seven percent per month for fifteen months, assuming no terror attacks have taken place.

Step Four: Finally, we would begin withdrawing from all other Arab nations in the Middle East at the same rate of between six and seven percent per month for fifteen months, assuming there has been no terrorism.

This proposal should be attractive to our enemy. The prospect of having the American military completely out of the Middle East within five years would be a powerful incentive for them to cease all terrorism completely and immediately.

Isn’t five years of peace in the Middle East, the rebuilding of the infrastructure and economies of Iraq and Afghanistan, the greatly improved standard of living for nearly two million Afghan and Iraqi families, the reduction of our financial commitment from hundreds of billions of dollars to only seventy billion over five years, the promotion of “good will” toward America throughout the world, and the immediate and complete cessation of the killing of American soldiers and innocent Iraqi civilians enough of a benefit and incentive for us to pursue such a negotiated settlement?

Why not make an attempt at such a compromise? What have we got to lose? If it works, we stop the killing, bring our troops home, save hundreds of billions of dollars, and provide peace and stability for Iraq and Afghanistan while rebuilding their economies and infrastructure. We would be leaving these nations in much better condition than when we arrived. Isn’t that the kind of results that an American intervention should produce?

If our enemy rejects our offer, America would still be vindicated before the world, because we would have tried to negotiate. We would have offered our enemy what they had requested. We would have offered to pay for the massive labor force needed to rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as training and paying the salaries of their military/police forces. We would have called our enemy’s bluff, and they would appear disgraced throughout the world.

President Bush, it’s time to take off your cowboy hat and get rid of your macho attitude. Your Iraq policy has obviously and miserably failed. Multitudes of innocents are dying. There is a better way. Will you humble yourself and try it?