I only say part 1 because I know this won't be the last time I post about the war. The only reason I've waited until now to post about this is because I'm not sure where to start and how to tackle this complex issue.
What is peacekeeping? Canadians have had a reputation in the past of being the world's peacekeepers. But we do that by bringing guns over to another country and shooting people. That doesn't sound like peacekeeping to me.
But make no mistake that the Bible does condone battle in its pages - especially in the Old Testament. Interestingly, the Israelites were fighting in a "holy war" - on behalf of YHWH. Their understanding was that it was judgment time against the enemies of YHWH and that God was using the Israelites to increase God's kingdom and bring a theocracy to the earth (theo = God so theocracy is being ruled by God).
Our battles overseas are for, among many things, defending our future and liberating the native peoples in those lands to bring democracy. But does anyone really think that our future is safer? And do we really believe that democracy is the only way that a country can be governed? The basic understanding behind a democracy is that the land belongs to the people and so should be governed by the people - by majority and representation. People living in a democracy have personal rights and freedoms.
While I will never agree with their methods or their rationale, I find it interesting that our enemy right now considers themselves fighting a holy war. They hate North Amercian self-centredness, pride and affluence. They claim to be fighting in the name of their god. They are willing to sacrifice their own rights to living for that purpose.
I love my freedom here in Canada. I'd personally like to shake the hand of every soldier that is on the front lines. But the politics of this war we have to admit at times are suspect. And it seems that we are just reinforcing to them how prideful we think we are trying to impose our truth/our government against theirs.
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3 comments:
There's a quote by Tony Campolo that I love... it goes something like this:
"When Jesus said to 'love your enemies', he probably meant that we shouldn't kill them."
While I haven't really made up my mind on where I stand on the Afghanistan situation, I know enough that I don't agree with it as a Christian.
I agree that the cause in Afghanistan is more just than the situation in Iraq (don't even get me started on Iraq...), I'm reminded of Jesus telling us that "whatever you do unto the least of these, you do unto me." God loves the Al Quaeda just as much as you or I. What gives us the right to go in and kill them, in the name of "democracy"?
You mentioned that some people over there claim this is a type of "holy war". As Christians, wouldn't it be awesome if we were known to those people in that part of the world as being a people who loved them for who they are? If we sent in mass amounts of food and aid to them, no strings attached, simply to demonstrate the love of Jesus? Wouldn't it be great to be known as The Church (big "c") who totally loved on them and met them where they're at, instead of going in with our guns to "peace keep" and trying to force our "North American (Christian) way of life" on them?
Besides, who's to say Jesus would be all for democracy anyways?
The issue of Afghanistan is indeed complex and a small piece in a much larger multi- dimensional picture involving people, religion, ideology, geography and time. You have touched each in your blog without continuity and provided no clue about the total picture.
You ask the question “what is peacekeeping?” implying you are seeking an answer. A peace keeper is one who is involved in maintaining civility and peace between people. A good example which we see everyday is the RCMP, who I might add are armed. Police were once known as “peace officers”. Armed peacekeepers are required, even in a free and civilized country such as Canada, and yes, even here it is necessary on occasion to shoot people.
So then, why do you find it strange when Canada sends “peace keepers” to a hostile country? Afghanistan is at war internally, allows Al-Quaeda to conduct an external war from within, prefers to be governed under Sharrea law (not democracy), believes all non-Muslims to be infidels worthy of death; and above it all, fight in the name of their god. Canadian peace keepers are armed and find it necessary to shoot people whether in their own defense or in the role of keeping some level of civility between warring factions who all don’t like outsiders being there in the first place.
All sides in Afghanistan look at the Canadian peacekeepers, not as a peacekeeping force, but as an unwanted invading force of infidels. Afghans take great pride in their history of the past several hundred years of repelling all invading forces.
Make no mistake; those fighting in Afghanistan are defending our future. The politics of the war are misguided because the total multidimensional picture is not understood by the western nations or their leaders. Individual freedom is not a concept in Islamic ideology.
The Islamists would like to deprive you of the freedom that you enjoy and love here in Canada as much as you want to preserve it.
I would like to expand on the theme of “peacekeepers” -- those that didn’t and the consequence of not doing the job.
After the Israelis pulled out of southern Lebanon a multinational peacekeeping force under a UN mandate was put in place. The concept was to keep the Palestinian and other Islamic factions out of southern Lebanon so the people living there could do so in peace. Hezbollah, a dominant independent Islamic political and paramilitary force in Lebanon, even before the dust had settled from the retreating Israeli tanks, began reinfiltrating the area. The UN peacekeepers, ill trained and poorly led soon came under attack by Hezbollah. A few were murdered and in the occasional skirmishs, they were more than out gunned by the Hezbollah fighters and quickly retreated to the safety of their compounds. Their principal role became one of self-preservation. In this new self defined role they became the eyes and ears of Hezbollah reporting on all of the activities of the Israelis across the frontier and loudly reporting any incursions into Lebanon by the Israelis. They also failed to report or stop any buildup by the Palestinians or Hezbollah. They did little or nothing to preserve the peace. They were consumed with their own preservation and safety, not the job they were sent to do.
The result was to drive the Christians out of southern Lebanon and those that could not leave were either killed or driven underground. With the blind eye of the peacekeepers, the murderous activities of Hezbollah were conducted with almost no opposition. Hezbollah was well armed by Iran and when the time was right they sent a raiding party into Israel and kidnapped two Israeli solders. The resulting war between Israel and Hezbollah proved to be tactical defeat for Hezbollah, but a strategic victory in which Hezbollah gained the position of dominate Islamic force, both politically and militarily in Lebanon replacing the Syrians. Hezbollah will in the next year or two take control of Lebanon giving Iran a foothold from Tehran to the Med.
Such blatant failure of UN peacekeepers in performing their role cannot be tolerated therefore it requires forces, such as the Canadians who know how to do the job and can be relied upon to keep the peace and not be intimidated.
The failure of the UN as peace keepers is well documented. For a more intimate and first hand account of what had to be endured by Christians in southern Lebanon, I recommend you read “Because They Hate” by Brigitte Gabriel (available at Amazon.ca), or at a minimum, the book review by Harry A.
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