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Posted on 04/10/2003 3:35:47 AM PDT by Tennessee_Bob
There have been more minuses than gains in the Iraqi war, said Shane Claiborne, a Maryville native who returned to East Tennessee Wednesday from Iraq.
Claiborne, 27, spent the last three weeks on a peace mission visiting Iraqi orphanages, hospitals and homesteads.
"Within the first three hours of the bombing, one hospital had reports of 100 casualties," Claiborne told media, family and friends in McGhee Tyson Airport's baggage-claim area. "I think if the American people could see the effects of the war and the previous years with the sanctions, they would support other solutions for liberating the people. My purpose was to go and bring an American face of someone who doesn't want to bomb them and to let them know everyone in America does not support aggression."
The Maryville High School graduate, who graduated from Eastern University and attended Princeton Theological Seminary and now lives in Philadelphia, was a member of an Iraq peace team affiliated with Voices in the Wilderness, an organization established in 1996 with the goal of caring for Iraqi families and ending economic sanctions.
Claiborne and 29 other volunteers including clergy, medical personnel and educators witnessed the air strikes and other military action in Iraq and spent the three weeks caring for families in the war-torn country.
Shrapnel in a roadway blew out a tire and caused a vehicle in which he rode to flip over. Passengers were injured, including Claiborne, who has a dislocated shoulder.
He wore a sling on his left arm and used his right arm to display photographs of injured, bedridden schoolchildren, razed buildings and peace demonstrations in Iraq.
Though he said he admired their conviction, he was not a part of human-shield actions by people opposing the war who placed themselves in front of military units and machinery.
Pat LaFon's eyes filled with tears as her son spoke to the media. Family friend Kristi Disney sobbed.
"I'm just really glad he's back," said Disney, fair-trade campaign coordinator for Tennessee Industrial Renewal Network.
Minutes before he descended into the baggage- claim area, LaFon said, "He is very passionate about his faith. He's very passionate about changing the world and making it a better place."
LaFon, a William Blount High School teacher, said she was happy for his brief visit "just so I can see all of his fingers and toes."
Claiborne is on the board of directors for the Christian Community Development Association and is a co-founder of The Simple Way, a group that lives among and serves homeless people in north Philadelphia. His ministry experience has been varied, ranging from a 10-week stint working alongside Mother Teresa in Calcutta to serving a year with Willow Creek Community Church, a wealthy church outside Chicago.
Claiborne is the featured speaker at 6 p.m. today at a brown-bag community conversation on peace movements and community action at Emerald Avenue Youth Foundation, 1718 N. Central St.
Wonder if he's seen the pictures of the men, women and children that were gassed during the Al-Anfal operation? Or of the torture chambers, or the prison full of children?
My purpose was to go and bring an American face of someone who doesn't want to bomb them...
Well, guess what, partner? The soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen over there didn't want to bomb the people - they were there to destroy the regieme that was opressing them - and they did an excellent job of it.
Feel free to visit this story and send an e-mail message to the author. I don't know that she'll pass them on to this young man - but maybe she will.
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Fools are often quite passionate about their foolishness.
That explains alot...
Yup, nothing like secular religeous training !!
(I've seen committed Christians go into Yale Divinity School and come out talking like Barry Lynn...)
In his fairy tale world of perfection, he would allow deliberate mass butchery to continue to avoid a few accidental civilian deaths in the liberation.
People like this are not just foolish. They are dangerous.
Where the faithful check faith at the door and don't pick it up on graduation. Replaced with a liberal social agenda!
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