A Mission of Peace and Peril (Free Republic Mentioned)

Los Angeles Times ^ | 12/12/05 | Stephanie Simon

[conservative in nyc]

Michele Naar-Obed knows she will not stop the war in Iraq by walking the streets of Baghdad, unarmed and unguarded, calling for an end to the violence, but she considers it her duty to try.

She is 49 years old, a mother, a wife, a pacifist who can't stand to be passive. Soldiers put their lives on the line for their country; she will risk hers too, in pursuit of peace.

Four of her colleagues in the pacifist movement were kidnapped in Baghdad late last month. The men — fellow members of Christian Peacemaker Teams — have been threatened with execution. Their captors have released videos showing them shackled and handcuffed.

--Snip--

Shunning armed guards, the activists live in a Baghdad apartment outside the U.S.-controlled Green Zone. They have stayed on even though most other foreign aid workers are gone. Despite the kidnapping, several of the activists remain in Iraq.

Critics call them reckless and naive. "I don't feel the slightest bit sorry for a bunch of hand-wringing liberals wandering into a war zone," reads a typical posting on the conservative blog Freerepublic.com. Others say their calls for unity are ineffectual.

"This is not the kind of thing that causes the president to change his policy," said Roger Dingman, a USC military historian.

But pacifists can still have an effect, Dingman said, especially over the long term. "They wake up the general population to issues of war and peace," he said. "They make the rest of us ask ourselves: Are we doing the right thing?"

[conservative in nyc]

Excuse_My_Bellicosity - your post here was quoted in the Los Angeles Times.

[The_Victor]

conservative blog Freerepublic.com.

First to say, "Free Republic isn't a blog."

[johnny7]

That's what I call 'counting-coup' on your enemy!

Well done FReeper Excuse_My_Bellicosity!

[SteveMcKing]

L.A. Times... they sure have a tight grip on that whole "Over-95" demographic.

[atomicpossum]

"Pacifism is objectively pro-fascist."

-George Orwell

[ExcursionGuy84]

Oh, that such people Only could know The Prince of Peace...

[Paleo Conservative]

This link goes directly to that post.

[clee1]

Unlike most moonbats, at least this lady has the courage to stand by her convictions.

Luck to you, Lady - but you'd be more effective peeing up a rope.

[Fiddlstix]

First to say, "Free Republic isn't a blog."

Well said.

[in hoc signo vinces]

The LA Times leaves out the rest of the post to further their agenda of trying to demonize FREEREPUBLIC.

As the saying goes..."There's no such thing as a pacifist on a battlefield."

[martin_fierro]

Ping!

[MNJohnnie]

Only in their most deluded day dreams do they have any effect. These people are EXACTL who the terrorists are counting on. They are the Propaganda arm of Al Qeda and no one should waste so much as a drop of ink on their stupidity.

[martin_fierro]

She is 49 years old, a mother, a wife, a pacifist who can't stand to be passive.

So instead she's passive-aggressive.

[reagan_fanatic]

[YOUGOTIT]

There has NEVER been peace without someone winning. NO place in history, can I find that, a peace was made, that survived, without one side winning the war.

[Cecily]

"But pacifists can still have an effect, Dingman said, especially over the long term. "They wake up the general population to issues of war and peace," he said. "They make the rest of us ask ourselves: Are we doing the right thing?"


In a word, yes. We should have given Saddam the boot in 1991 and fostered democracy in Iraq then.

[Rakkasan1]

maybe that's why libs like sports where you can play to a tie.

[blackie]

~~ and a total kook!!