Three In A Row...

Here we go again.

By my count, it was March 19, 2003 when President Bush sent U.S. forces into Iraq.

We're still there, of course. We'd been in Afghanistan since October 2001, although we diverted most of the effort in Afghanistan to Iraq.

We're still in Afghanistan.

Of course.

Anybody want to place bets on how this will go?

First, we cheered as Libyans revolted and took control of half the country.

Next, we waited, thinking that Gadhafi (remember when we called him Kaddafy??) was toast.

Then, we watched as his forces began nibbling away at the poorly armed and organized rebels' gains. Cities and towns got taken back, retaken, retaken again.

Now, with practically nothing left as a haven for rebels except Benghazi, we decide to move.

Must have been a few neighbor-against-neighbor episodes in there. Quite a few.

And what comes next?

I got two things to say: 1) Where's the money for this coming from? 2) Whose sons and daughters are going to be there to police up the mess when the Libyan air defenses are crushed, the military dispersed and neighbor-against-neighbor clashes erupt as the Libyan economy further collapses and the blame thing starts to set in?

Another question. If Libya were buying U.S. debt the way China has been, would our response have been different? How? I wonder.

Pray for peace.

Roger

Peace Is At Hand... Question is, whose hand?

First Day of Peace
(for our nation and all who mourn on the first day that US combat units have not been in Iraq since March 19, 2003.)

The first day of peace brought showers,
then a touch of sun, change of season
No sense of battle won, lives lost,
a mother's quiet tears,
child's dreams still folded
Like the flag in a wedge of stars
that will never fly.

The nation had already withdrawn its sense of urgency
and purpose
battle lines pawned in polls and surveys
No goals came to the surface more than once
per day.
Piece by piece they came undone
in threes like WMD, IED, MRE...
Up-armored Humvee's gave their place
to Strykers, MRAP's, Predator drones and more
GOP! DEM! USA!
Us and them. At war. Sort of...

Disappointment did not fall on the first day of peace.
It came early on and left soon after, numb
Passion should not fail us when our young lives are lost
sacrificed with seemingly no notice.

That could never happen in a war,
real war like The Good One!
Would never be allowed among us on these shores
Unless a demon in the cloak of pride
denied our knowing,
stole our seeing, our giving of a care
citizen share of duty, honor, country, cost
Courage of knowing why,
why not
And what is lost that cannot be won militarily.

What will these families, loved ones tell their children
someday, one day,
soor or late
About why this was, what this was
What winning does when it does not happen
on the first full day of peace?

Copyright 2010 by Roger D. Fuchs, all rights reserved.

From all I can tell, there is no way that US troops will be out of Afghanistan by next year. Or Iraq. Yet America has long since moved on in our minds because we never really moved into these wars. We rail against budget deficits while we leave the things that are really killing jobs here (the cost of health care and insurance) and our failure to have infrastucture and energy policy for a brighter future unattended, unresolved. And we seem incapable of doing the math of what these wars have cost financially and the calculus of what they are costing and will cost in the future by having changed the world in a way that moves it toward more violence, not peace.

I hope I'm wrong. God, let us all pledge our best efforts to make me out to be completely wrong on this one. Help us, Lord.

Amen.

Roger

The Ultra-High Price of Arrogance

Recently, if you read the previous post, I was hauled into court. Not as a defendant but on behalf of a defendant. It's an experience I will not forget and have no plans or desire to repeat. However, it's now on my curriculum vitae as life experience. I should quit now since I'm batting a thousand: one win, no losses.

The leadup to the trial baffled me. I expected to be deposed by the other side. I wasn't. The only possible explanation for this unseized opportunity by the other side is arrogance. They thought that they had such a qualified, credible expert witness that they didn't want to give me even the experience and OJT of a deposition before getting me on the stand in court. I'm sure they expected to blow me away like a few dandelion seeds.

They grossly overestimated their own position and grossly underestimated what I knew and could show the jury--and I didn't even get to do a third of it in court.

They were seeking tens of thousands of dollars in damages. They spent several tens of thousands of dollars in getting to the trial. They left without a penny. It was a sad waste of time and money that could have been invested in the businesses on both sides of the conflict.

Lose-lose situation for everybody.

Arrogance. Flat-out arrogance. Well... maybe some ignorance mixed in with it.

Now comes the WikiLeaks.org report of 92K secret U.S. reports on the war in Afghanistan that confirm a similar arrogance and ignorance on the part of our country in this soon-to-be nine-year-old but forgotten war.

It's not news to me, however. I've heard the same thing from a number of guests on Terry Gross' (best interview show in the business IMHO) program "Fresh Air". Two weeks ago at Powell's Books in Portland, Jean and I heard the same in person from author Jere Van Dyk. JVD spent 44 days as a captive of the Taliban. Hence, the title of his book Captive. JVD essentially said:

1. The U.S. has bloody poor intelligence.

2. Ethnic and tribal loyalties rule the day and the territory.

3. Afghanistan is the most corrupt "government" on earth.

4. Making any kind of gunny sack purse out of the sow's ear we have made of Afghanistan will take far longer than both the purse strings and the patience/attention span of current Americans will allow.

We can't stay, and we can't leave. It's become a Humpty-Dumpty deal.

How did we get into such a mess in the first place? Well, you'd probably have to waterboard half the Bush Administration to find out. But maybe we should have been waterboarding ourselves before we ever started the mess in the first place.

Van Dyk pointed to the work of Greg Mortenson and the Central Asia Institute in building schools in some of the most impoverished areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan as being the only real way forward.

Now comes the word that even the wives of some of America's top generals have read Mortenson's story in Three Cups of Tea and have asked their spouses essentially this question: Wouldn't this be a better way than bloodshed, drones and loss of life?

If I had to describe Mortenson's way succinctly, it would be with these words: the way of Christ. I challenge you to read his book and disagree with that assessment.
Several years ago in a home community group of young Christians, I asked this question:

Suppose that after 9/11 instead of essentially calling the U.S. to war, President George W. Bush had gone on national television and radio and read the Beatitudes and called the nation to a campaign of education and an end to poverty among our enemies. What would have been the reaction of the country?


A young woman didn't hesitate a second before replying "outrage".

So I guess the Jesus we profess and have at times been willing to kill for is really a fraud and a fake? Or not... I guess we'll never know until we are for once willing to try, to actually follow the way of Christ and the way of the cross.

But we might have to first declare war on our own arrogance. And ignorance.

I think we call that repentance.

Practice resurrection. Create peace. Amen.

Roger

Vietistan. Afghaninam.

Marjah was supposed to be the breaking point, the defining turn where we would break the back of the Taliban, move the Afghan government and their forces into place.

Then move on.

Clear. Hold. Build.

I can still hear Condoleeza Rice saying those words about Iraq. Today I heard Iraqis complaining that before the U.S. invaded they might be without electricity 3 hours out of every 12. Now they are lucky to get 3 hours of electricity for every 12 hours.

It was 125 degrees in Baghdad today. Picture that with no juice, no fan, no refrigerator. You might be ready to blow something up too.

After all these millions.... Sorry, all these billions of dollars and lives lost! Now the country is sweltering in another summer of poverty with the government at a stalemate. Sometimes imported democracy ends in a deadlock and gridlock. Just like our homegrown stuff.

We were supposed to have Marjah, Afghanistan all done and up and running by now. Didn't work so well. Then, we'd do the same in Kandahar, take the home turf from the Taliban and be home by Christmas. Well.... no.... Maybe July Fourth, 2011.

Too bad about Kandahar. It's 10 times the size of Marjah. Our allies will be pulling their troops out soon. How does this end? How does this end well?

War. Peace. And God.

Our former pastor, Gary Simpson, wrote it a couple of years ago as things were gearing up. Many high profile American clerics backed our wars as just wars, if not downright holy wars. Gary was a little more circumspect.

I like Gary a lot. Our daughters used to play together. Gary, Sharon, Jean and I were in a small group for a while. Struggled through issues of feminism and faith together. He's a tennis nut. A real guy with a humble heart and a head on his shoulders.

I wonder if anybody has taken the long look at counterinsurgency? May be a little different deal from the war they had in mind when they blessed our Iraq and Afghanistan invasions. Forgive me, Afghanistan came first.

Tell me how Afghanistan ends that isn't worse than how Vietnam ended.

Does anyone but the families of soldiers care?

Is anybody still out there?

Is anybody up there?

Father, forgive us. For we know not what we do.

Amen,

Roger

It Is Possible

It is possible that our country could be detroyed by war. In fact, I might be able to make a strong case that it already has been.

Read this story and decide if you can write a good ending:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37847841/ns/us_news-military

(your words here)

Just take it as a writing assignment first. Then, after you get it written, ask yourself, "How is that going to come about?" Only one rule to this assignment. We don't get to quit without providing an answer.

I began the introduction to my reading at this year's Memorial Day ceremony at the Oregon Vietnam Veterans Living Memorial with these words:

We are here because we remember and because citizenship in this country requires that we own the cost, the conduct and the consequences of war as long as we shall live.

I wonder if anyone else beside me believes this. Any volunteers?

Pray for peace. Then, go out and work for it.

Oh, by the way. The picture collage above? Part of a 4 x 5-foot piece made from 20,000 images taken by Linfield College nursing students on a 2008 trip to Vietnam. I wonder if there will ever be a time when that can be done in Afghanistan?

Amen.

Roger

Rome, USA . . . and the Way of the Cross

I remember President Nixon. I don't miss him, but even those insane times seemed to make more sense than the present ones. I'll write more about that in a couple of days.

On Friday, a buddy from USAF days sent me the youtube link to a patriotitc "thank-you" song by a group of third graders. It would be great to get kids to sing that well in church. But here ya go. Have a listen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pfBUUZNbFM

I listened to the song and read the words. On the web page, I saw that there are dozens, if not more, of such patriotic songs. Of course our soldiers and their families deserve our undying thanks, love, support and prayers.

They also deserve something else: the very best exercise of citizenship that the rest of us can muster. Freedom is something WE do. It is not done for us by soldiers.

Randomly, I clicked on one of the additional songs by a young woman named Sarah Bettens:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhX5ET5PNv8&feature=related

A few measures into the song, the beautiful young blond woman dressed in a black gown and standing in front of members of all branches of our military services sang these words:

"Fighting for freedom, for equality, for freedom for me and you..."

The song and the little acting sketch leading up to the song contained yet another variant of an oft-repeated but little considered premise: that our soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq are fighting for our "freedom" and the survival of the U.S. Constitution.

Say what?

I maintain that these wars have absolutely nothing to do with our freedom and our Constitution. Maybe freedom and the constitutions of Iraq and Afghanistan--but we can hardly give or impose such things on those folks. They first have to want them, then fight for them themselves.

Our current wars MAY have something to do with our safety and security, but perhaps even less of that than we might think. Safety and security are very different from our freedom and our Constitution. However, it is human nature to seek simplistic answers to complex problems. That takes less work and brain power. By default we choose the path of least resistance.

Simply put, Rome in Jesus' day rested on belief in the Pax Romana, the gospel of peace through military victory. Pax Romana meant a brutally imposed subjugation of ruled peoples through as many public executions as it took to bring compliance. Caesar was procalimed and worshiped as the son of God. Or else! The whole shebang ran on a grinding extraction of tribute. For that, Rome recruited any corrupt regimes and their tax collectors who could keep the money rolling in.

Pax Romana was hardly the peace and freedom taught and lived by Jesus and Apostle Paul, a peace through justice and the way of the cross. In many ways we are becoming the modern day Rome staggering into bankruptcy and decline to preserve an idealized past vision of ourselves while avoiding reconciliation with the way ahead. Rome worked completely on pay-go, no matter how much it killed local economies and how much resentment it bred across the empire. They didn't have China to borrow from. We may well be even more delusional than they.

Here's something for us to remember today as followers of Christ:

Justice must be blind. Faith must never, ever be.

And our faith must never let us substitute patriotism for God.

I'm currently reading Three Cups of Tea, the story of Greg Mortenson's stumbling journey into building schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan. He didn't set out to be a missionary and convert anyone. Yet he, born to a renegade Lutheran school builder in Tanzania, has done far more with far, far less to bring peace and freedom than the trillion dollars we have spent on the two most recent wars. We're still spending. Our debt is rising.

But see: http://www.gregmortenson.com/

If ever we needed validation of the way of Christ and the way of the cross, Mortenson's work should do it for us.

I doubt that he will ever have a song and viral videos written for him. But he should have. Some kinds of virus can actually save lives. They need to be spread.

If it's prophetic, it's probably not popular. If it's popular, it's probably not prophetic.

Jesus' journey that we mark in Lent puts us in mind of that. The way of the cross is not the easy way out. The way of the cross is not cut-and-run. By comparison, it can make military intervention look like a two week cruise.

Which way do you think Jesus calls us to?

Pax Christi,

Roger

On the line

It's so easy to do these days. Years ago you would have to pick up a pen and paper or sit down at the typewriter with your eraser (what a godsend white-out was!). Then you'd have to find a mailing address, put your letter in an envelope and wait for perhaps 3-4 weeks for the mail to be opened by a staffer. Now our representatives in Congress can be contacted by e-mail, Twitter, facebook and who knows what else.

I've now sent all three of my reps the letter below. It took about 10 minutes. I've put my considered views on the line. I've voted. I will again soon. This is not only our freedom. This is our repsonsibility as free citizens.


Dear Congressman Blumenauer:

I listened to every word of President Obama's December 1 address at the United States Military Academy at West Point. To be sure, he inherited a situation he did not create; and the choices are all bad. But I do not believe that he has made the case for sending an additional 30,000 U.S. troops for what was presented as a short and limited deployment. It may take 18 years to accomplish what we hope in Afghanistan, not 18 months.

The President stated that Afghanistan and Pakistan are vital to U.S. security, yet he has not really established how or why. Yes, Osama bin Laden was there and may still be there; but what is the real threat today, and how will the President's proposed strategy be the best response? He really hasn't made the case.

Gen. Stanley McChrystal now says he can accomplish what he needs to do with the additional 30K troops. He says so because he knows that's all he can get. He himself had projected a need for at least 80K, but Gen. David Petraeus' own anti-insurgency manual calls for several times that number. That will never happen, and it's time we all told ourselves the truth.

The 30K troops and the stated strategy presented to us on 12/1 taste exactly like the chimeras of WMD and a self-financing 90-day war in Iraq sold to us by President Bush.

Give President Obama this clear message: say why and say how much Afghanistan will really cost us. Tell us the truth or say no. No more half measures that make things worse.

Either implement a draft and a war tax and put 500K troops in Afghanistan by next September, or bring them all home by December 31--this year.

Thank you!

Roger D. Fuchs

A Nation At War?

Is America a nation at war? For more thought-provoking commentary, read "All In Vain" at http://karenzach.com .

Be sure not to miss the miracle story of Diane Carlson Evans' grandson.

Keep the prayers faithful.

Roger

What Should We Do, America?

It's been a long time since we painted military trucks in green-gray camouflage colors. Once they were only painted olive drab. The jungle wars in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand brought new disguises.

Now when people think of camo colors, they think of beige and tan. The colors of deserts in Iraq and Afghanistan. The color of dust and sandstorms. That's how long it's been since our focus was on hiding in dense growth.

Iraq has largely dropped off our radar screens as citizens. Reluctantly, we are back to Afghanistan. President Obama replaced General McKiernan with General McChrystal. He's taking his time deciding on a strategy and how to support it, seriously dithering according to former VP Dick Cheney. There is validity to that criticism. Meanwhile, a doubtlessly fraudulent Afghan election has taken place. It has taken two months to decide--only to have the opponent drop out of a runoff because it would be hopelessly rigged and flawed also.

Hamid Karzai's government has been criticized as among the most corrupt on earth. Right now and for the foreseeable future it is all we have and all we will have. So now it's time for President Obama to do his business or get off the pot. Pakistan is watching. So is Iran. So is India. So are Russia and China. So are the pundits in America. But how many Americans?

But I want to ask this question of my fellow Americans of all stripes, especially people of faith: When is it finally time for Americans to decide what to do and get it done? Do we double or triple the size of our forces there? Do we just up and abandon the place? Do we muddle along with a grindingly inadequate force because we won't actually support more than that? Do we abandon military strategies entirely but go with a Marshall Plan style humanitarian effort such as we have never seen?

General McChrystal would like 80,000 more troops but might settle for 44K. Probably enough to fail but surely not enough to succeed in stabilizing a country far larger and terrain-wise far more formidable than Iraq. But General M. will be lucky to get 20K. I'm betting the number will be closer to 12K.

But America, whom should we send? Are we willing to send our own flesh and blood? Shall we implement a draft and send only fresh troops who haven't already been deployed to Afghanistan once and to Iraq twice? Are we willing to cough up an income tax surcharge to pay for it all? Are we willing to buy war bonds?

What should we DO, America?

And is attempting a military solution to all of this in direct conflict with our faith? Haven't the true saints been those who have risked everything to: 1) love God above all things (Deut. 6:4-5); and 2) love their neighbors as themselves (Lev. 19:18)? Haven't they been like the wise teacher of the Torah who responded to Jesus that living in conformance with 1 & 2 was above any ritual sacrifice and burnt offering? Didn't Jesus say that the teacher's interpretation was a very close approximation of the kingdom of God (Mark 12)?

Have you ever known a nation that was bold enough to take Jesus at his word? Do you know any churches and faith leaders who do? Have we ever honestly tried the way of Christ?

Our choices in Afghanistan are very limited, thanks in part to so much misguided and failed American involvement in the Middle East and Central Asia over the past 60 years. What is it that we could do following the lead of saints like Greg Mortenson who had the courage to act on their convictions? What is it that we could do that would eventually turn every weapon, instrument and vehicle of war into a relic collecting spiderwebs and overgrown with weeds?

Read the two pieces by Nicholas Kristof, and listen to the two recent interviews on Fresh Air. Then formulate a plan in you own mind. It's our reponsibility as a citizens in this free land. It's being done in our name with our (children's) money and it will profoundly shape the world of the next two decades. It may even have something to do with whether the USA eventually defaults on its massive load of debt.

When asked what most struck her about returning to America from Iraq, former Oregon National Guardsman Rebekkah Mae Bruns remarked, "What stuck me was that the military was at war but America wasn't." Maybe it's time we were.

BTW, Nick Kristof grew up on a sheep and cherry farm near Yamhill, OR just west of Portland. He went to high school with a good friend of mine. Unlike so many columnists and pundits, he has actually spent much of his life traveling and living in the poorest and most troubled areas on earth. He knows the poverty, lack of sanitation, clean water and medical care in Africa. He knows the modern global human slave trade. He knows the plagues of malaria, river blindness and the AK-47. He knows the religious and ethnic chasms of the places we are involved in. He has some ideas.

Do any of the rest of us?

Kristof:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/22/opinion/22kristof.html?_r=1

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/29/opinion/29kristof.html

Charles Sennott:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111773305

Greg Jaffe:


http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=114210259



So, what should we DO, America?


Pax,
Roger