Wars and

rumors of peace*

By

Robert Wolfgramm

 

    The Sacred Scriptures says a sign of the end-times is that things will be in a state of turmoil.  This includes war (see Mark 13:7).  So it is, that while Afghanistan bleeds from one response to the war on terror, the US is talking up the prospect of mounting another, this time with Iraq.

 

    Retired US Foreign Affairs luminary Henry Kissinger thinks we need to get into "phase two" of the war on terror.  He says that phase two is a war on "incipient rather than actual terrorism."  It's about needing "some international system" to be pre-emptive in striking "the hotbed of world terrorist activity."  In practice, Kissinger supports President George W. Bush's plan to take out Saddam before he takes out them.

 

    Normally a phase two would follow the conclusion of a phase one.  But in this case, the phases seem to be overlapping.  Phase one was designed to meet the situation in Afghanistan.  It was an understandable response to September 11 involving toppling and replacing the Taliban government, dismantling and punishing al-Qaeda and either killing or capturing Osama bin Laden.

 

    Now, unless I'm mistaken, phase one is still unfinished business.  Only the first of the phase-one imperatives has been effected.  Meanwhile, the al-Qaeda network remains indeterminate in size, mysterious in its objectives and invisible in its operations.  And Osama bin Laden is still at large as global enemy number one.  Or is that Saddam Hussein (again)?

 

* No-one would trust Hussein.  But before taking on Iraq it's essential that America's actions be according to law in order to claim legitimacy and moral superiority.  In this respect, we should demand compelling evidence for the nation's intentions.  If the US insists on going in alone (without UN support), then the US will need to persuade us.  If a fugitive state is to be brought to heel in all-out war, then such action will need to be based on more than just re-election strategy.

 

    All this is cold comfort to the people of Iraq, who have suffered privations under Saddam's tyranny7 and his unwillingness to come to heel, which has resulted in international boycotts and subsequent starvation.  Whether they support an international or American liberation is impossible to tell.

 

* Germans during the 1930s and World War II supported Adolf Hitler, not because he was a lovable person but because he matched his charisma with socioeconomic results.  Hitler put Germany on a war footing because his dreamy Third Reich demanded European domination.  While he was winning battles and eliminating scapegoats, he found support.  But when the tide turned, his desperation drove him to paranoia and evil.  When his record was made evident by defeat, the German people deserted him.

 

    Something needs to be done about Saddam, as something needed to be done about Adolf.  But because history never precisely repeats itself, knowing whether legal caution in this case is appeasement or needless belligerence, is difficult to tell.

 

* One thing is for sure: Iraq is a modern descendant of the ancient Assyrian and Babylonian power - its people know about ruthless empire building and sustained warfare.  America is a mere historical babe by comparison.  Yet it presides over a global cultural and military empire that dwarfs those of previous epochs.

 

    It's true that seeds of warfare are sown into both Iraqi and American soil, but the latter possesses firepower that can destroy Iraq and its friends many times over.  I wouldn't want to be in their shoes.  If phase one of the global effort against terror was Osama and phase two Saddam, who might we expect to be phase three?

 

    I can't wait to find out.  Not because I relish warfare (just or unjust) - far from it - but because every war, Yeshua promised, brings us closer to the end of all war.  Brings us nearer to shalom (peace) that began 2000 years ago will soon find its fulfillment in Him, and its effect will be global.

 

* See Matthew 24:6.

 

The above article was reprinted and adapted from Signs of the Times Vol. 118, No. 3, March 2003.  Signs of the Times is published by Signs Publishing Company, Warburton, Vic. Australia.