Statement On Iraq
Given by James Covington on May 16th, 2004
When I emailed everyone last week on the heels of the Iraqi prison scandal, I criticized the present administration’s handling of the war in Iraq and asserted that Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld should be fired. I was speaking from my own moral indignation toward an administration that has arrogantly alienated most of the world.
I believe the U.S should and must lead the world in the war against terror. Terrorism is a pathological reality that must be confronted both militarily and geo-politically. We are the world’s only super power. And we also are founded on a set of democratic ideals that I believe represent the world’s best hope. Therefore we have a profound responsibility, probably unparalleled in history, to uphold our basic ideals in the fairest, most honorable and just manner. The irony, even tragedy, is that today we are more alone in the world and more hated than at any time in history. If anything, we are viewed by many as an international outlaw.
I do not hold other nations blameless in our present world crisis, and I do not believe the U.S. should abandon the Iraqi people, but I fear that the present administration, as a result of its brazen miscalculations and hubris, lacks any ability to rebuild the friendship, trust and respect necessary to stabilize Iraq and the Middle East. That is my personal judgment. As Bob Kerry, one of the panelists on the 9/11 commission indicated, the war on terrorism has been ill conceived. Terrorism is a tactic, not an enemy. “The real enemy is a small group of radical Islamists who have chosen to wage a war on all infidels—military and civilian alike.” We saw their despicable actions once again last week when the American, Nicholas Berg was maliciously beheaded. What kind of human being would do such a dastardly act? Or commit the butchering of Americans in Fallujah? It is indeed a sobering, nauseating, shocking fact, that humans are capable of doing terrible things to one another.
And yet, what kind of human being would sexually humiliate Iraqi prisoners and expunge their dignity? Especially when that human being represents not only a nation of democratic, humane values, but also represents the world’s only super-power? I’m sure there are complex reasons for such unconscionable behavior by those few soldiers in our American military. I believe we will soon know why it all happened. It can be said that such abuse and atrocities are always the consequence of war, and especially military occupation. But still, the lack of urgency given by this administration to reports, months ago, that atrocities were being committed by Americans in the very prison so many Iraqis have been tortured in even more horrifying ways under the regime of Saddam, is very disturbing. This administration should have done better. I have sadly been reminded in recent days of the sober warning: “choose your enemies carefully, or you will become like them.”
In spite of all that has happened, I still fervently hope that some kind of democratic sovereignty will prevail in Iraq. But in the long run, I believe the enemy we face can be overcome not by military power alone or by torture or by abandoning the Iraqi people, but only by facing squarely the concerns of the Muslim world and the bitterness and despair that make terrorism such an attractive option. This is the kind of action I don’t presently see being advanced by our government.
When President Bush was recently asked if he had ever consulted with his father about going to war against Iraq, Bush replied that, there is a higher father that he appealed to—the Heavenly
Father. One wonders what the Heavenly Father would advise him regarding the chaos and violence in Iraq? I would wager that it would have something to do with compassion and doing whatever is most likely to lead all good people of all nations to stand together for peace and justice.