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A Mission of Peace and Peril (Free Republic Mentioned)
Los Angeles Times ^
| 12/12/05
| Stephanie Simon
Posted on 12/12/2005 10:28:25 AM PST by 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?"
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
TOPICS: Free Republic; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: airheads; christianpeacemaker; cpt; dorks; dumbasses; fr; headsupasses; hippies; hostages; iraq; jerkwad; kerryvoter; killmelastplease; laslimes; latimes; michelenaarobed; moronsonparade; naarobed; naivedumbasses; peaceniks; slimesjerkwads; stewpid; terroristsupporter; thatsallfolks; wattamaroon
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To: conservative in nyc
Excuse_My_Bellicosity - your post
here was quoted in the Los Angeles Times.
To: conservative in nyc
conservative blog Freerepublic.com. First to say, "Free Republic isn't a blog."
3
posted on
12/12/2005 10:31:41 AM PST
by
The_Victor
(If all I want is a warm feeling, I should just wet my pants.)
To: conservative in nyc
That's what I call 'counting-coup' on your enemy!
Well done FReeper Excuse_My_Bellicosity!
4
posted on
12/12/2005 10:32:17 AM PST
by
johnny7
(“You have a corpse in a car, minus a head, in the garage. Take me to it.”)
To: conservative in nyc
L.A. Times... they sure have a tight grip on that whole "Over-95" demographic.
5
posted on
12/12/2005 10:32:23 AM PST
by
SteveMcKing
("No empire collapses because of technical reasons. They collapse because they are unnatural.")
To: conservative in nyc
"Pacifism is objectively pro-fascist."
-George Orwell
6
posted on
12/12/2005 10:32:48 AM PST
by
atomicpossum
(Replies should be as pedantic as possible. I love that so much.)
To: conservative in nyc
Oh, that such people Only could know The Prince of Peace...
7
posted on
12/12/2005 10:32:54 AM PST
by
ExcursionGuy84
("Jesus, Your Love takes my breath away.")
To: conservative in nyc; Excuse_My_Bellicosity
8
posted on
12/12/2005 10:33:52 AM PST
by
Paleo Conservative
(Hey hey ho ho Andy Heyward's got to go!)
To: conservative in nyc
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.
9
posted on
12/12/2005 10:34:14 AM PST
by
clee1
(We use 43 muscles to frown, 17 to smile, and 2 to pull a trigger. I'm lazy and I'm tired of smiling.)
To: The_Victor
First to say, "Free Republic isn't a blog." Well said.
10
posted on
12/12/2005 10:34:24 AM PST
by
Fiddlstix
(Tagline Repair Service. Let us fix those broken Taglines. Inquire within(Presented by TagLines R US))
To: Excuse_My_Bellicosity
11
posted on
12/12/2005 10:35:17 AM PST
by
Mears
(The Killer Queen)
To: conservative in nyc
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."
12
posted on
12/12/2005 10:35:19 AM PST
by
in hoc signo vinces
("Houston, TX...a waiting quagmire for jihadis.")
To: Excuse_My_Bellicosity
13
posted on
12/12/2005 10:35:44 AM PST
by
martin_fierro
(Been there, done that, got the refrigerator magnet)
To: conservative in nyc
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.
14
posted on
12/12/2005 10:36:42 AM PST
by
MNJohnnie
(Now the Democrat leadership claims that accurately quoting them is "attack politics")
To: conservative in nyc
She is 49 years old, a mother, a wife, a pacifist who can't stand to be passive. So instead she's passive-aggressive.
15
posted on
12/12/2005 10:37:02 AM PST
by
martin_fierro
(Been there, done that, got the refrigerator magnet)
To: conservative in nyc
16
posted on
12/12/2005 10:37:47 AM PST
by
reagan_fanatic
(Darwinism is a belief in the meaninglessness of existence - R. Kirk)
To: conservative in nyc
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.
17
posted on
12/12/2005 10:47:34 AM PST
by
YOUGOTIT
To: conservative in nyc
"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.
18
posted on
12/12/2005 10:48:59 AM PST
by
Cecily
To: YOUGOTIT
maybe that's why libs like sports where you can play to a tie.
19
posted on
12/12/2005 10:50:40 AM PST
by
Rakkasan1
(Peace de Resistance! Viva la Paper towels!)
To: martin_fierro
20
posted on
12/12/2005 10:56:10 AM PST
by
blackie
(Be Well~Be Armed~Be Safe~Molon Labe!)
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