Ode to a dictator
Over the last few days a lot has been said about the death of Saddam Hussein. My friend Beanie posted a great note on his Facebook that really made me step back and think. Why are we celebrating the death and certain eternity of torture for this man? Sure he was responsible for the death of thousands of innocent people, and by all standards he deserved to die. But for all rights and purposes you and I are equally as capable of carrying out the same atrocities. Why would we celebrate the certain judgment he felt the moment life passed from this realm to the next?
I know that the neo conservative, good American, Republican thing to do is to lift a glass toward Mecca, I mean Washington DC and hail our king, I mean president for being such a mighty leader, and Christian to boot. But I personally don't have time for that garbage. As Beanie stated so eloquently and I have stated many times before not so eloquently, my allegiance is to a king and a kingdom who can love an evil man til his death, not to a man impersonating a Christian who takes his country into an unconstitutional war and uses his "faith" to justify it. Nor is my allegiance to a republic that elects in its great uninformed intelligence the worst acting congress in the history of our nation, nor is it toward the religious leaders who deify said leaders all because they agree on issues like abortion and gay marriage.
When did the church become an issues based institution? When did abortion supersede the gospel? When did the spread of democracy become the goal of the church? When did marriage become an issue of the state? I have very strong personal opinions about any issue you want to throw at me, but it will not, nor should it ever, become a topic in the pulpit. Jesus loves the gay married abortion doctor imperialistic murdering dictator just as much as he loves you, deal with it.
What if we don't celebrate, rather we mourn? What would that tell the world? Would we show that Jesus is real in us if we are truly compassionate towards the eternal fate of even the most evil of men?
Celebrate if you must, I suggest we pull out the sackcloth and ashes.
1 comment:
Gee Mike: you sound like me laying the hatchet to a neocon book that history majors at Liberty introduced me to.
Let us hear the whole conclusion of the matter: neocons are a bunch of mindless war-mongering, nihilistic lunatics. Just listen to them in their own words. Neocon policy guru Michael Ledeen sounds like an insane nihilist: "Creative destruction is our middle name, both within our society and abroad. We tear down the old order every day... Our enemies have always hated this whirlwind of energy and creativity, which menaces their traditions... [We] must destroy them to advance our historic mission." He also said, "Every ten years or so, the United States needs to pick up some small crappy little country and throw it against the wall, just to show the world we mean business." Among Ledeen's other bright ideas besides Iraq, is to invade North Korea to topple Kim Jung-il only to install a communist gov't in orbit around Beijing. Gee! That's certainly worth spilling the blood treasure of American G.I.'s over.
Ron Paul of Texas had it right when he said U.S. foreign policy is "schizophrenic." In Afghanistan, the U.S. gave the elements of the Taliban financial support and weapons in the 70s and 80s only to turn around and support the elements that aligned with the Soviet Union in the 21st century. Who trained them in their tactics anyway? Similarly, a predictable blowback effect will occur in Iraq now that militant Shi'ites are taking over.
See my review of Christianity and War.
Granted, Clinton's administration is not immune from making fool's errands either. Besides, democracy is not some tangible commodity for export abroad anyway. I think American people could learn something from the Old Right and perhaps even the Old Left critiques of foreign policy. A more sober-minded President John Quincy Adams avowed, "America goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own." The bitter irony and hypocrisy of the Iraq War is that Saddam was shaking hands with U.S. leaders and receiving billions during the time he committed those supposed crimes against people that tried to kill him. No one suggests that the policymakers in the U.S. State Department should be held accountable. It seems America creates her "monsters." All of these power play games are vain.
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