Has our policy in Iraq failed? Civil war in Iraq is now a reality; it is only left to be determined how long and devastating it will be. Even though there has been a noble attempt to avoid such an internal conflict, it was probably inevitable and should surprise no one. Even so, the progress toward stable and lasting reform in Iraq has been truly remarkable. In fact, things are going so well that we should not have much doubt that it is possible for Iraq to become one of the most stable and prosperous democracies in the world. This will not happen fast or be easy, but even with the outbreak of civil war we can have confidence that it will happen.
When Iraq is stable again, we can then expect to see movement toward Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt joining with Iraq to form a strong alliance, for good and not evil. Eventually, they will become allies with Israel, making the Middle East one of the most stable, prosperous, and powerful regions of the world. That may not fit with some people’s eschatology, but some eschatology does not fit with a lot of Scriptures. The scenario I am describing here is plainly stated in Isaiah 19:19-25:
In that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the Lord near its border.
And it will become a sign and a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt; for they will cry to the Lord because of oppressors, and He will send them a Savior and a Champion, and He will deliver them.
Thus the Lord will make Himself known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the Lord in that day. They will even worship with sacrifice and offering, and will make a vow to the Lord and perform it.
And the Lord will strike Egypt, striking but healing; so they will return to the Lord, and He will respond to them and will heal them.
In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrians will come into Egypt and the Egyptians into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.
In that day Israel will be the third party with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth,
whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance.”
Biblical Assyria includes all of the territory from present day Iraq to Egypt. What is prophesied here has never happened before in history, so we know it must happen before the end of this age. The stage is now being set for this. That whole region of the world is going to become a blessing in the midst of the earth. As incomprehensible as this may seem with the present conflicts, it will surely happen. The sons of Ishmael and Isaac will unite in a powerful alliance that is a blessing to the whole earth.
Human politics or diplomacy could never achieve this, but God’s purposes are not subject to human politics. We must also keep in mind that God’s victories often look like defeats to the natural mind. The cross is the most obvious example of this. What looked like Jesus’ total failure in His mission was the greatest victory over evil ever. The reverse is also true—events that have looked for a time like great successes have turned out to be some of the worst tragedies.
The present situation in Iraq sounds like it is out of control, but this is mostly due to the nature of the news coverage. Remember when sharks seemed to be attacking beach goers in an unprecedented way a couple of summers ago? That year shark attacks were actually less than normal, but because there was not much else to report at the time, the coverage of shark attacks was far out of proportion than usual, making it seem that shark attacks were escalating. The media can have a huge influence over our impressions just by what they cover and how they cover it.
There has been good news taking place in Iraq which the media does not report any more than it does the good news at home. Have you ever tried to gage the percentage of good news on newscasts? You can watch the news for weeks without seeing one bit of good news reported. Almost nothing is as bad as the media makes it seem. This constant drumbeat of negativity has placed a pall of depression and darkness on just about everything. If we are going to walk in the light, we must get our discernment from a source other than the present news media. Some, like Fox News, have bucked this cynical trend and their ratings soared simply because they were trying to be fair and balanced, actually reporting the positive side of stories. They are like a fresh breeze in the midst of a choking smog.
There are dozens of people dying almost daily in Iraq, but we should be surprised this is not in the hundreds, if not thousands. There are major problems to overcome, but for anyone to have expected things to work out any faster or easier is unrealistic, especially given the factor of the outside agitation by the insurgents. It is not wrong to hope things go better and faster, but to expect them to was not practical.
Also, the struggle that Iraq is now going through will make it much stronger when the process is over. Just as the struggle which a butterfly endures by freeing itself of its cocoon is the most difficult it will ever face, and without this struggle it would not be strong enough to flap its large wings, a government achieved without struggle will not likely be strong enough to last very long.
Struggle does not guarantee success, but it does help work out the issues that would otherwise have to be dealt with later. Major issues are being worked out between the different factions in Iraq right now. The violence is illuminating the issues and forcing them to be faced. This is dangerous, but also a crucial process for the ultimate health of the nation.
Swift Action Wins Battles, Patience Wins Wars
After two of the most brilliant, swift, and relatively painless military victories in modern times in Afghanistan and Iraq, America and her allies have had a difficult time with the slow pace of nation building. The media and rival politicians do not help by promoting unreal expectations, an idealism that can be the worst enemy of true progress. It is not that we should not strive for the highest ideals, but idealism promotes both impatience and impractical solutions, and can therefore be the biggest hindrance to the step-by-step endurance that true, lasting progress requires.
It is right to mourn the loss of a single life, and it is right to be deeply concerned about the difficulties and suffering that the Iraqis are now enduring. However, all that they are going through now will work out for good, but again, it will not happen fast or easily. Anything that happens too fast or too easily is almost always insignificant, and Iraq has a significant purpose and future.
Iraq is where the very headwaters of civilization originated. It has been the great and difficult struggles that have produced the greatest achievements and advances for civilization, and Iraq yet has major contributions in this area. The fact that what is taking place in Iraq now is hard or taking longer than expected, will not discourage the truly wise, but will only increase their resolve and thereby their effectiveness.
Because the military victories in overthrowing the tyrannical governments of both Afghanistan and Iraq were possibly unprecedented in their brilliance and execution, they did tend to breed unrealistic expectations for their consolidation as genuine democracies, but this is a very worthy and important goal. Contrary to their critics, this is not the imposition of Western values on these nations, but rather a noble attempt to help them gain the liberty to realize their own destiny free from the imposition of outside interests. Viewed from the perspective of history, instead of through the eyes of those controlled by “the tyranny of the immediate,” for these two countries to have made such quick progress is truly remarkable and borderline miraculous.
A History of Hope
Almost no one thought that either Germany or Japan could ever become democracies after World War II. Today they are two of the strongest and most stable in the world. However, even in these progressive nations it took many years of patient and wise leadership, hard work, and the wisdom and resolve to overcome many seemingly impossible struggles to fully accomplish what today people are demanding be accomplished in Iraq almost instantly. Such impatience is profound naivety and foolishness when viewed in the light of history. However, the culture in the West is increasingly addicted to immediate results, which usually means superficial results. This is already causing serious problems and could very well be the seeds of its own downfall if not corrected.
There are some Japanese companies which have five hundred year plans. That may seem foolish to us, but there is something very righteous about this. The present leaders are not just selfishly planning for themselves, but for generations to come. This mentality also breeds a more long-term perspective for viewing everything, which has enabled the Japanese to ride out political and cultural storms that few thought they could survive.
The foundation of courage and a widespread desire for democracy in Iraq is probably greater than it was in either Germany or Japan after World War II. The percentage of Iraqis who lined up to vote, at the risk of their lives, was one of the great and courageous events of our time. When attacked by mortars or suicide bombers, the voters still refused to leave the lines. They stepped over bodies and body parts, and said they would rather die than not vote. Many in America will not vote if they have to go out in the rain. Such courage and devotion to freedom by the Iraqis has probably not been witnessed since Patrick Henry gave his “Give me liberty or give me death!” speech.
In spite of the difficulties and maybe because of them, what we are witnessing in Iraq and Afghanistan is one of the great transformations within a culture, a veritable civilizational seismic shift. This will not happen without some violence, but both nations are facing it with courage and resolve. It is hard and dangerous, but what is happening there does have the potential to help bring stability to the most unstable part of the world. It is worth fighting for.
Of course, if you watch the news, you will get a different picture from the Iraqis who are interviewed by our media, which has been far from fair and balanced in its coverage. It is not likely to show the positive interviews or the positive news. Things in Iraq and in much of the world are very different from the way our media portrays them, but this is old news itself, as the media’s fallen credibility proves.
The School of Leadership
One of the great benefits of the present struggle in Iraq is that it will also help to ensure that America will remain strong for at least another generation. Like it or not, agree with it or not, war prepares the greatest leaders in almost every field better than any other kind of school or experience. To a large degree, the extraordinary strength and success of America in the last half century is due to the leaders produced by the wars we fought. The remarkable strength and resilience of Japan and Germany is to a large extent due to the leadership produced in World War II, even though they were on the losing side. After war, almost any problem seems small and more easily overcome. There is a focus, resolve, and strength when in the midst of problems which enables a warrior to prevail where others could not.
One may point to the number of Vietnam War veterans and protest that the experience seriously confused and wrecked the lives of many of them. Some are damaged like this in every conflict, but those who are not too psychologically wounded by the experience are inevitably made much stronger. The rejection showed to the Vietnam War veterans may have contributed to more than the usual number of veterans having serious problems, but it also seems to have made those who overcame it even stronger, wiser, and more resilient. Some of the strongest leaders ever in America are Vietnam War veterans.
War is the greatest scourge on humanity. It is always a tragedy and represents a terrible failure of the more noble qualities. No one disdains war more than the military who will bear the brunt of its scourge, but war, and the essentials of military training, prepares the best leaders. The discipline, courage, and understanding of and devotion to teamwork, that our military produces in the young men and women is helping to prepare strong leadership for the nation for a long time into the future, not just for a strong military, but in every field. When there is real conflict, such as there has been in the Persian Gulf War and the recent and continuing conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, this invaluable training is not only accelerated, but goes much deeper into society. In the years to come, the veterans tried by the fire in these conflicts will start rising to the top in every field.
God forbid that we should ever want a war, or any kind of conflict just to help train our future leaders. But, when wars are inevitable we must fight when we have to fight. We must fight to win and take every advantage of them, which includes the training of our future leaders. Not just a strong military is necessary for America to continue to fulfill its purpose in the world, but also strong leaders for every field that the military helps to produce. As the present leader of the world, the conflicts we are now involved in can help the U.S. to remain strong for decades to come. If the U.S. does remain strong and proactive in confronting threats to world peace, it will help maintain peace and stability in the world much longer.
Like it or not, it is the burden of leadership to be the policemen of the world, which is in fact to be the peacekeepers of the world. There may have never been a more noble or capable nation than the U.S. for doing this. What other nation in history not only set its vanquished enemies free, but helped to rebuild them at its own expense? As one nation’s leader said jokingly, the fastest way for any nation to prosper is to start a war with the U.S., lose fast, and then get ready for the billions in aid. The benevolence of the U.S. toward even its enemies has been remarkable and unique in history, even though it is seldom appreciated, or even acknowledged. However, whether anyone acknowledges it, it is right that we should be this way.
We must maintain our benevolence, but for America to fulfill its purpose it must remain strong and aggressive. In fact, it must be a “warrior nation.” It must be ready, willing, and capable of taking strong, decisive action when action is required. The enemies that civilization itself is facing today interpret the desire to negotiate as weakness just like Hitler did. We are in fact dealing with the same spirit as that which manifested in Germany in the last century. It has one assignment—destroy the Jewish people and the true Christians because Satan knows very well their destiny at the end of this age and he is doing all that he can to thwart it.
Just because those who are of the same spirit as Hitler will be emboldened by the tendency of their enemies to negotiate and just talk, that does not mean we should not try to resolve things diplomatically. But, there is a limit we should accept before we take real, decisive action. If it becomes known that we will take action when talks are not going anywhere, then the talks will have a much better chance of working.
History Repeating Itself
In 1938, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain boasted that he had achieved peace in his time by negotiating a deal with Hitler. Within a year of that boast, war broke out across Europe and Asia that would take more than 100 million lives. The physical destruction of property lost by this war was possibly greater than all previous natural disasters and wars combined. How could Chamberlain have been so wrong?
The British and French felt that they had achieved peace for their time by compromising with Hitler. They were convinced that Hitler had been appeased by giving him Czechoslovakia. We now know that Hitler interpreted this diplomatic capitulation on the part of the French and British as a sure sign of their weakness and lack of resolve, convincing him they could easily be defeated. When we compromise with those with his type of mentality, they will inevitably press even harder for more and they will never be satisfied until they have it all.
For a few months, Chamberlain’s diplomacy was considered a brilliant stroke of diplomatic genius. He was considered a hero to his nation, and by most of Europe was even being lauded as the greatest statesmen of his time. As they cried “Peace! Peace!” sudden destruction came upon them, and they were not prepared. They could not have been more wrong. Amazingly, the same mentality continues to grip liberal idealists throughout Europe and America today. It seems that if anything was learned from the terrible wars of the twentieth century, it is that nothing was learned.
Winston Churchill had been warning about the threat of Nazi Germany continuously for years. Almost no one agreed with him. Even so, he remained resolute to the degree that he was chided as being “an annoying drumbeat.” In the Parliament, in the press, and in Europe, Churchill was called “archaic, foolish, and stubborn” for his refusal to understand that the world was too civilized to fall into another world war. In just months Chamberlain fell from hero to villain and is now universally considered one of the most naive and foolish statesmen of all time. Churchill would ultimately be lauded as the greatest leader of the twentieth century.
Give War a Chance
How might history have been changed if Chamberlain had refused to negotiate with Hitler over Czechoslovakia, but had rather met Hitler’s aggression with military action? World War II, with its one hundred million plus dead, and countless other casualties, as well as its trillions of dollars in damage, would have almost certainly been reduced to a minor clash. When the German generals entered Czechoslovakia, they confessed that the Czech army fortifications were so strong that it was unlikely that the German army could have defeated them at that time. While the German army was bogged down trying to defeat the Czechs, if the U.K. and French armies had made good their vows to meet German aggression with an advance from the West, Germany would have easily been stopped in 1938, likely with very few casualties.
This is not just speculation about what could have happened; it could have easily happened if the political leadership of the time had been strong and decisive instead of weak and compromising. There would have been a conflict, but one that would have likely cost a few thousand lives instead of over one hundred million.
If this scenario had taken place, Chamberlain probably would not have been lauded for a few months as the great statesman of his time, but could actually have been accused of being a warmonger. No one would have known that he had actually saved millions of lives. However, you simply cannot lead effectively if you are overly concerned about what human history will think of you. God has His own history recorded in “The Books of Life.” On that great Judgment Day, the truth about all will be fully known. Those are the only books that we should care about having our names written in.
There are some people who you cannot negotiate with and will never be appeased. The longer you wait to confront them with resolve, the more terrible the price the world will have to pay for its procrastination. The difference between Britain, France, and Czechoslovakia confronting Germany in 1938 and 1939 was probably more than one thousand times worse. The world’s leaders are facing nearly the same choices again today in regard to Iran, North Korea, and the forces of terrorism. The procrastination, rising pacifism, and anti-war movements are clearly giving more boldness to all of these enemies of our future.
Again, if anything has been learned by the terrible wars of the twentieth century, it is that little seems to have been learned from them. Europeans cling tenaciously to the same delusions that made it inevitable that the previous wars were so destructive. The proverb that “those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it” continues to echo with no one listening. The same voices of appeasement and compromise are dominating the media and political debates. No one in their right mind wants war, but the choices we face are not whether there is going to be conflict, but how big and how devastating it will have to be.
If the issues of Iran, North Korea, and terrorism in general are not faced with resolve in the next two years, the whole world will pay a terrible, terrible price. Instead of losing thousands, we will lose millions. These enemies of civilization will use our foolishness and idealism to their own advantage, striking with devastating resolve when they do, just as Hitler did in 1939 and 1940. We are dealing with the same mentality again, and there is no question that there will be conflict. The only question is how devastating it will have to be because of the procrastination of those who must confront. It is certainly good and right to love peace, but not when there can be no peace.
Encouraging Evil
Terrorists were emboldened by the way America fled Lebanon after the Marine barracks bombing in the mid-1980s, and then again by how we withdrew from Mogadishu in the early 1990s after losing a few men. This promoted the widespread doctrine among our enemies that if you just inflict a few casualties on America, she will turn tail and run. This led to the attacks on the World Trade Center. The resolve we showed as a nation after the 9-11 attacks sent them reeling for a time, reconsidering this belief about Americans. However, with the recent rise of the “peace at any price” mentality in America, and the corresponding impatience with the way things are going in Iraq, they are being emboldened again.
Like it or not, believe it or not, the present Administration’s strategy has accomplished something no one thought possible—it has protected America from another major terrorist attack for over five years. Why has no one seemed to notice this? Hardly anyone on the planet thought that this could be done, even the Administration. Without question, we have had Divine help. We need to also give credit where credit is due. Our intelligence community, law enforcement, military, and the Administration’s handling of them, have been brilliant.
It is tragic that we are losing a few soldiers every week in Iraq. However, it is likely that our solders in Iraq are safer there than they would be on the U.S. highways. The safety and protection of our forces should be high on the priority of any commander, but the forces exist for the safety and protection of the nation. Not only is our way of life being threatened, but our very lives are threatened. There are now many thousands of radicals in this world who believe one of the most virtuous acts they can perform is to kill Americans or Jews. They are focusing their lives and resources on doing this. Many of these radicals are right now being drawn into Iraq like flypaper, and they are being eliminated.
It is good that we are not doing a body count again as was tried in Vietnam. Even so, Iraq in its present state is allowing the elimination of hordes of those who would likely be trying to get at Americans in other ways and in other places, including in America. It is right, even courageous for our present leadership not to talk about this strategy, but it is brilliant and it is working. You may think that this is good for us, but not for Iraqis. But they, too, will be much better off in the years to come if this battle is fought now.
With the media’s constant drumbeat of why the conflict in Iraq is going so badly, why do they not mention that the overwhelming majority of veterans of this conflict are for continuing it? It was amazing to learn the high percentage of wounded veterans here who wanted to return to Iraq when they healed. The media has to scour hard to find a veteran against continuing our policy in Iraq, and then they have to wear out their story. For so much attention and space to be given to someone like Cindy Sheehan has to be one of the most convincing cases for the poverty of substance in the anti-Iraq policy movement. For anyone who thinks about the news and does not just accept it as presented, it has to be obvious how the media makes a mountain out of mole hills with any bad news. They are not even covering the good things that are happening in Iraq, which almost every veteran will gladly talk about.
I am thankful to live in a country that esteems life and takes casualties with such seriousness, but we need to demand truth and accuracy in reporting. America is actually losing many times more people on our highways every day than soldiers in Iraq. There are far less casualties in Iraq than there were in Vietnam, and the stakes in Iraq are many times higher. We will lose the war against terrorism, the war for our future existence, and tyranny will prevail in the world if America does not become much stronger in handling the cost of leadership and in dealing with casualties. There will be some, and at times there will be many. This is the cost of leadership and liberty. The alternative is to surrender.
What Do We Do?
The upcoming mid-term elections are far more important than possibly any other mid-term elections in our history. As Christians, we must be proactive in this world if we are going to be the salt and light we are called to be. If we do not do our part and vote, then we have failed our own nation in a very basic way. Vote, and become proactive in the crucial issues facing our nation in these times. Above all, be the salt and light by being true, living by the highest standards of integrity and morality, and praying for the Divine intervention that we must have in these times. Pray for Iraq. Pray for Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, the Palestinians, and Israel, that now would be the time for Isaiah 19 to come to pass.
