Peace at home
Southside residents offer personal reflections on the possibility of war in Iraq

by Elaine Klaassen

When World War III starts—Is that where we’re heading?—we need to be close to our immediate neighbors. We need to work together on our blocks, love and care for each other, support each other. On every block live people of many different belief systems. Maybe if we start talking, and listening, to each other, we can give each other strength and somehow ward off the destruction of the earth.

Here are statements of people who could conceivably be neighbors, living on the same block. They don’t necessarily agree with each other but let’s imagine that they listen to each other and care to know what everyone else is saying.

Some of the characters come from my own thoughts, some are voices I have read, some are statements I have heard and overheard, and others are recorded directly from people speaking specifically for this article.

Ruth

“All I can think about is the impending war. I had a nightmare that must personify the collective feeling of the country. I dreamt I was at a school or community center where they were having a fair of some kind. Suddenly I found myself suspended in the air above the steep stairs of a deep stairwell.

“My first realization was that when I fell—and it was obvious that I would inevitably fall—I would be seriously injured or killed. It wasn’t a certain death, but death was likely. My experience was that of complete terror. It must have been like the fear the people who died in the World Trade Center, and the astronauts on the Columbia felt when they realized what was about to happen.

“My second awareness was disbelief. There was no good reason, no explanation, for my predicament. It was just handed to me. It seemed exceptionally unfair that I should have to plunge to the bottom of the stairwell. It was like the people in the World Trade Center again and of the people of Iraq and of people everywhere who do nothing to bring suffering upon themselves; they are just living their lives, making a living, loving their families, and dancing through the night whenever they get the chance.

“Suddenly I started looking around for something to grab hold of—I must have been hanging in mid-air long enough to start problem-solving. Unbelievably, I found the top of a door and was able to hang on to it and let myself down gracefully and easily to a solid surface. Maybe there truly is a way to keep from falling over the precipice of political manipulations and into the fiery lake of war. There just has to be some sensible, solid ground somewhere.”

Gina

“Iraqi immigrants want us to get rid of Saddam Hussein because he’s a terrible tyrant, and Iraqis living in Iraq want the same thing but just can’t say it. I’m behind our brave, good-hearted kids who are willing to go over there and risk their lives to help out. I wish our CIA could just do some kind of covert operation and get Saddam out of there but it doesn’t look like they will. The thing I’m most worried about is what will happen to our kids when they come back. Is it going to be like Vietnam? Will our government turn its back on them? Will people spit on them?”

Bob

“The Arabs hate us because we’re rich and we have the freedom to do whatever we want. Since they’re trying to kill us, we absolutely have to do something about it. Bush made a commitment to grieving families right after 9/11 that he would find the terrorists and bring them to justice. He couldn’t just say to the terrorists, ‘That’s OK. We understand. We forgive you,’ could he?

“Saddam Hussein is like Hitler. He’s an expansionist who’s trying to take over the world, or at least the whole Middle East. Somebody has to stop him. So what if we’re an empire. Better our empire than his empire. Besides, have you heard what he does to his own people? He kills his advisers on a whim. He rapes women. He tortures people who speak against the government. He’s allowed sanctions to continue for 12 years.

“I think all the war protestors are against the war because they’re against Bush. They think the U.S. government should be in the hands of the Democrats instead of the Republicans. That’s why they don’t support the war.”

Calvin

“I know a couple of protestors who inspire me a lot. These guys are my heroes. One is Father Roy Bourgeois who is passionately opposed to war of any kind. He’s a Maryknoll priest who served in Vietnam. He said he believed in the war at the time, thinking it was important to stop communism. Now he says war is evil and a crime against humanity. About 12 years ago he became the leader of the demonstrations to close the School of the Americas, now called the Western Hemisphere Security something or other, at Fort Benning, Ga., and has been in the penitentiary a couple of times for that. Last weekend at Fort Benning he handed out flyers to people in the military, asking them to think seriously about not going to war, reminding them that those they killed would be their brothers and sisters. The flyer quoted the U.S. code describing the punishment he might face for encouraging them not to go, or that they might face if they refused to go—a fine and/or a maximum prison sentence of 10 years. I think he’s unusually brave and unusually kind. He might be a saint.

“The other guy is Wayne Wittman, a member of Veterans for Peace, who served in the Navy in Korea. I don’t listen to anybody unless they’ve been there, you know? Now he’s president of a labor organization, machinists and aerospace workers, and he drafted a great resolution for the St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly to sign on to. They didn’t sign on though. But, it was so intelligent, not surprising since Wayne loves history. He emphasized how illegal it is to attack a sovereign nation without United Nations approval. But, to me, the most striking thing in his whole statement was his observation that it’s difficult for him to even read history any more because the tales of human suffering caused by wars are too distracting. He said, ‘There does not appear to be a war that could not have been avoided.’”

Pastor Cecilia

“President Bush can listen to the devil or he can listen to God. Likewise, Saddam Hussein can listen to the devil or he can listen to God. We need to pray that both of them will be led by the Holy Spirit. If everyone comes to God the violence will go away. Real peace will come when people listen to God. We need to pray and pray. It breaks my heart to think of this war and all the lives that will be lost and all the suffering. I’m shuddering in my chest just to think about it.”

Mary Ann

“It is impossible to know—diplomatically and politically—what is really going on. I’ve read enough espionage novels to be sure there is much going on that the general public will not know for many years to come, or that the public will never know. The ‘facts’ can’t help me decide if I believe we should go to war—because I don’t have them. Therefore, my position has to be based on principles—my belief that killing is wrong. When someone suggests to me that people are dying because my country does not protect them, I am tempted to change my position, like, maybe it’s necessary to kill someone to protect someone. But then what? If that were one’s position, there would be no end to it, protecting here, protecting there, protecting everywhere. Also, you could be confident there would be times when you were being manipulated into believing you were protecting someone, and in reality, you weren’t.

“I’m not a big scholar but I did read a tome of Thomas Aquinas’ political philosophy about 30 years ago and came away with the thought that if one runs a government, one will inevitably commit evil. One’s only choices will be between two evils, the greater and the lesser. Of course, Aquinas was writing long before the great American experiment, government by the people, got off the ground. Maybe now, with such a strong voice of the people, the guy at the top doesn’t have to be so lonely or so lethal. The notion of “the voice of the people” has already begun to spread to many places in the world and if left to itself will just grow and grow. The idea can’t be forced on anyone. I think the whole world should do everything by consensus anyway, although the consensus process is unwieldy, even in small groups. And it can’t work if there isn’t trust, respect and cultural cohesiveness.”

John

“Since my son graduated from college he’s been teaching English in Nepal. Two months ago he had the chance to visit Mosul in northern Iraq as a member of the Iraq Peace Team. He spent his time visiting churches and mosques, chatting with shopkeepers and savoring the ancient feel of a city that has been inhabited since its name was Nineveh and God told Jonah to go preach to the people there. He feels a special connection with the wonderful people he met and wonders if they will be alive when he returns. He said it was hard to say good-bye.

“My son visited with a Dominican priest, a Sufi Muslim leader and a Dominican nun. He found that the secular regime affords Christians certain rights and freedoms, and that a very small Jewish population also enjoys special protection.
“The Sufi told him that Islam, like all religions, is a religion of love and peace. No religion teaches people to kill other people. The priest told him that many Muslims perceive U.S. aggression as anti-Islamic, partly because Bush called the invasion of Afghanistan a ‘crusade.’ Later Bush made an official apology.

“I was surprised to hear about the religious freedom in Iraq. The people my son talked with worried that a replacement government of fundamentalists might curtail their religious freedom. I was also surprised to hear that the U.S. military is pretty aggressive in its bombing campaigns in the no-fly zones. People are afraid all the time. They hear air raid sirens almost every day, which are often followed by bombings. I guess the war has already begun.”

Pastor Jim

“Satan has people chasing their tails right now. I think this is more of a spiritual battle than people realize. As a pastor, I see spiritual battles everywhere I turn. I don’t take political positions in my preaching, I make an effort to take God’s side. In this situation I pray that the government makes the right decision. God can always use human suffering to bring about his purposes. God has always worked through the good, the bad and the ugly. If we go to Iraq, God can use us. If we don’t, God can also use us. God wants people to cry out and say, ‘I need you,’ the way they did after the destruction of the World Trade Center.

“Do you know the story of Nebuchadnezzar? He was the king of Babylon who carried the Israelites off to captivity. He tried to get them to worship him but three young men refused and he ordered them thrown into the fiery furnace. Of course, God protected them, and the flames didn’t singe a single hair on their heads. Then God punished the king by making him lose his mind. You know, he went crazy. Later, the king recognized God, God restored his mind and “Nebuchadnezzar praised God. Who knows? If Nebuchadnezzar could have a change of heart, why couldn’t Saddam Hussein?

“If this is the end of the world, and it could be, I want to be aligned with Israel more than anyone because it’s an important biblical fact that they are the chosen people of God, even if they do some crazy things.”
Barry

“I just enlisted in the United States Army. I’m in the Army now. They’re going to pay for my college. I didn’t think I’d even finish high school and here I am going to college. I think this is a great country, I love my country, and I want to fight for it. But my neighbor called me a ‘baby killer.’ Do you think I’m a baby killer?”