Peace isn't made when real wrongdoing goes ignored [Christian Peacemaker Teams]

Jewish World Review ^ | 3-31-06 | Jonathan Gurwitz

[SJackson]

"The consequences of doing nothing in the face of evil were demonstrated when the world did not stop the Rwandan genocide that killed almost a million people in 1994. Where were the peace protesters then? They were just as silent as they are today in the face of the barbaric behavior of religious fanatics." —

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jose Ramos-Horta, writing in the Wall Street Journal, May 13, 2004

A peace laureate acting as an advocate for war might seem odd. Odd, unless you understand that war is not the worst evil known to mankind. And odd, unless you understand that the absence of war is far from being the same thing as peace.

"Some may accuse me of being more of a warmonger than a Nobel laureate," Ramos-Horta wrote. "It is always easier to say no to war, even at the price of appeasement. But being politically correct means leaving the innocent to suffer the world over, from Phnom Penh to Baghdad."

I recalled Ramos-Horta's powerful essay while reading the piddling statement from Christian Peacemaker Teams after coalition forces stormed a house on the outskirts of Baghdad and freed three of the organization's members.

[Valin]

Christian Peacemakers urgently made it to Iraq in time for the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. But they somehow missed out on his 25-year reign of terror, his gassings of the Kurds and his massacres of Shiites.


Nails it!

[SJackson]

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[Publius6961]

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jose Ramos-Horta, writing in the Wall Street Journal, May 13, 2004

Does anyone have a copy of this essay? I would love to read it.

[Publius6961]

OOooops!

Not that hard to find...

Sometimes a War Saves People

[Tolik]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1134749/posts

http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110005071

[Tolik]

Just as the "human shields" were willing to protect the Baathist regime from American bombs but not Iraqi civilians from jihadist bombs, Christian Peacemakers seem committed to "waging peace" only against the United States and its allies. There are today, for instance, Christian Peacemaker Teams in Colombia and "Palestine," but none witnessing the genocide in Sudan.

To turn the other cheek — one's own cheek — is a principled demonstration of Christian pacificism. To avert one's gaze from evil, to divert the gaze of others and distort their perception of it, is neither principled nor does it advance the cause of real peace.

Nailed It!
Moral Clarity BUMP !

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[libstripper]

The CPT are Islamofascist terrorist enablers and supporters. If we are fortunate enough to have some of those traitorous filth captured by their Islamofascist friends, we should leave them to their fate, including beheading.

[MEG33]

BUMP!

[SJackson]

Sometimes, a War Saves People

Thread, not many comments.

[proud2beconservativeinNJ]

Thank you, Tolik, for this double exposure to "good stuff" worthy of my attention. Both essays nail it: Gurwitz today and Ramos-Horta from May 13, 2004 (from my pre-FReeper and Tolik list awareness days)

[sandbar]

"A peace laureate acting as an advocate for war might seem odd. Odd, unless you understand that war is not the worst evil known to mankind. And odd, unless you understand that the absence of war is far from being the same thing as peace."

Says it all.

[Alouette]

Anti-War Hostages Air-Dropped Back Into Iraq