Iraq

Iraq....
Let us begin in the beginning, why did we go?
There are a several possibilities. I have here the two I think most plausible. One, to oust Saddam Hussein. An evil, brutal dictator; a murderer of his own people. Isaiah 1:17 says, "Learn to do good, seek justice, rebuke the oppressor..." Although these words were written to the nation of Israel under different circumstances, I think in some ways, the U.S. was doing that; seeking justice, rebuking the oppressor. Reason number two, weapons of mass destruction. I have it from an eye-witness source that there were indeed WOMD, even though Iraq said there were none. Now, the first reason seems like a plausible reason to go. Who would not, when such brutal crimes against humanity were being committed. The second reason is slightly more skeptical. So they did have WOMD, did that give a right to go? Unfortunately, I am not knowledgeable on international laws or the U.N.'s rules, so I don't know what violation there was there. But the greater question is if the U.S. had any threat of danger from it. Maybe, maybe not. But it could be that the government decided not to take a chance. So these could be why we went. There are thousands of factors I don't know, therefore, I may not say whether we should have gone or not, but we must move on to more important questions.

What do we do know? It is best and biblical not to ponder on what is past, but live today and press forward to tomorrow. By invading Iraq we made a commitment of sorts; not to leave until the job is complete. Mainly, getting Iraq back on its feet. Iraq is getting there; they have a government, unstable though it may be, and a military and police force. So I believe we are doing our part. Unfortunately, the news media of today tends to focus on what's going wrong rather than what things are going right. There are good things going on over there, right along with the bad things. But this still leaves a most important question: When do we pull out? Thankfully, I don't have to decide. And I believe our president has put qualified generals in charge of that who will make good decisions to the best of their ability. But I will say that having a time-deadline within the next couple of years is a very bad plan. You can't time a war. I do believe that having a project-deadline might work. In other words, if our troops and Iraq's troops can get certain things done by a certain time, than that many troops get to come home. I don't really know, but I do know this, that the U.S. made commitment when we went to Iraq, and whether we should have gone or not, we need to fulfill it to the best of our ability.

Peace?
Iraq may become its own nation, but will that bring peace? Is peace made when democracies are established? Obviously not. Bryce has an excellent post that makes a great point on this subject. Indeed, Muslim nations, or any other nations, will never have peace without Christ. So, in one sense the war in Iraq is futile. When millions of people are believing that killing is part of their way into Heaven, then obviously no amount of military interference is going to change that. On the other hand, this invasion has opened up a door into Iraq: a door for Christ. After the invasion, the door was open for us to send Bibles, precious Arabic Bibles into the hands of our brothers and sisters in Christ and others in Iraq. It opened up a door that wasn't opened before. Christ will continue to advance His kingdom. Even in something as hellish as war, God's plan, perfect in every way, will prevail.