Alternatives to War
I’m not a pacifist. I believe that there is a time and a place for war – always a regrettable time, but a time nonetheless. I’m not sure we’re at this point right now, but it’s sure leading to an interesting discussion. One of the things I admire about Martin Luther King Jr. was that he thought through his strategy of non-violent civil disobedience, along with the consequences. History has shown that his strategy was right. I’m finding a lot of the anti-war rhetoric has stopped short of presenting an alternate plan, along with the consequences. I’m ready to be convinced, I really am. How do we stop a Saddam Hussein without going to war? What does loving our enemies look like? Inaction? Going in with all kinds of humanitarian assistance? What are the consequences? I hope you’ll help me understand, because so far I haven’t seen a lot of compelling answers to these questions. Update: Regan, husband of Rachel Cunliffe, provides some alternatives in the comments section of Rachel’s site:
“I’ve heard more on what’s wrong with the war than on a better way to proceed” Is that because you live in America? But seriously… Options have been outlined here on a number of occasions. Unfortunately they get dwarfed by theological rhetoric. Let me present some options again to avert war: 1. Allow the UN Weapons Inspectors more time 2. Increase the number of UN Weapons Inspectors 3. Have the US work with the UN and provide them the details they have on Iraq’s said WMD’s so that the UN don’t waste time looking in the wrong place 4. Deliver much needed medical supplies and food to the Iraqi people 5. Land UN Peacekeeping troops on the ground in Iraq to police distribution of medical supplies and food 6. Lift the sanctions 7. Locate Saddam Hussein and send in an elite group of UN soldiers to extract him as was done with Melosivich. And finally, my favourite: 8. Change US foreign policy so that the world doesn’t have to keep finding itself in these friggin situations
Ignoring the sneer in the comment, “Is that because you live in America?” – no, as a matter of fact, I don’t – Regan presents some good ideas. Well, not all of them would work, but why aren’t we looking at numbers 5 and 7?
