"HEARING THE WAR DRUMS"

A Sermon by the Rev. Bruce Clear

Sunday, March 23, 2003

All Souls Unitarian Church

Indianapolis, Indiana


Our country has gone through perhaps the most stressful week since September 11, 2001. It is a week we will long remember - or at least we should.

We have been hearing about war with Iraq for over a year now. The sound of the war drums came louder and louder this week, until finally, it drowned out everything else. Those sounds affect so many of us deeply, sounds that echo around the world.

I am normally not a journal keeper, but this week I decided I should write down some of my feelings as the week progressed. As a way of looking at where we are, I invite you to review the journey of this week through this one perspective. I suspect that many people here share at least some of the feelings I had. At least I hope this review helps encourage self-reflection on what all of us are going through, alone and collectively.

So I begin by reading from the journal I kept this week. It begins, of course, with Monday.



Monday, March 17,

St. Patrick's Day, 2003:

I awoke to the headlines that the long anticipated war seems inevitable. The papers report that President Bush decided to withdraw the resolution before the U.N. Security Council, and give up on any United Nations support for war. Not only does a veto for immediate action seem inevitable from France, it is also obvious that the United States cannot win a majority vote. If the United States could at least persuade a majority on the Council, it might give some kind of "moral" grounding to the decision, even if still illegal.

But President Bush failed to get the needed support, and so he seems determined to do what he has wanted to do for quite some time. The claim is that diplomacy hasn't worked. It might also be said that our government has failed in the art of diplomacy, and that its position remains unpersuasive to most of the rest of the world.

This is a drizzly day, indeed. Outside, the weather is spectacular. Spring seems to have burst forth with all its attended glory. The air itself speaks to us of life and rebirth after a long and severe winter. There is a freshness in the air, and sunshine illuminating everything. And yet an ominous cloud is omnipresent during the day. Throughout the day, all thoughts become clouded by images of exploding bombs and people screaming. I am acquainted with several American soldiers now stationed in the region, and my heart goes out to them and their families. I am proud of their resolve and commitment, I have deep respect for their integrity and sense of duty. I fear for their safety, and hope for their swift success.

There are millions of Iraqis whom I don't know at all personally. My heart goes out to them as well. I fear for their safety. They do not deserve to have lived all these years under the brutal rule of Saddam Hussein. They have suffered poverty, violence and fear for decades. They deserve a liberation from that, I agree. And yet they also do not deserve to be subjected to a reign of terror from bombs overhead. They do not deserve to be subjected to even greater horror and dread. It is inevitable that innocents will continue to die.

It was announced that the President will address the nation tonight at 8 p.m. News reports say that he will issue an ultimatum, but the specifics are vague. There is no question that the Bush administration failed to gather support from the world.

It appears world opinion is now moot.

. . . .I listened to President Bush's broadcast. He gave a 48 hour deadline for Saddam Hussein and his two sons to leave Iraq. The clear implication is that bombing and invasion will begin at anytime after that deadline.

The speech was still unconvincing to me. I still wonder, with most of the world, why the urgency? It bothered me that in his speech he used language that included me. "The American people," he said, will not stand for this or for that. The policy that is unfolding, it seems to me, is only vaguely attached to the American people.

On the other hand, I was impressed when he talked about being careful to avoid civilian casualties. I believe his heart is there. I believe he means it. I'm just not sure how it can be done.

Forty eight hours. My mind does some simple calculations. Eight o'clock Wednesday night. I realize that when the deadline arrives, I will be in the middle of a meeting of the All Souls church Council. I do not look forward to it.



Tuesday, March 18:

The news hasn't changed. Hussein declares he will not leave. Some stations are posting a count-down clock in the corner of the screen. "Thirty Hours" to go, they say.

Surely there is another way. Surely this decision is premature. In thinking about how this whole morass might be resolved, I have had a hierarchy of hopes. At the top of my hierarchy of hopes has been that some internal uprising would oust Saddam Hussein, and he would no longer be the threat he has been. Were that to happen, he would go the way of Mussolini or Ceausescu, and the country could be rebuilt. It doesn't seem that is going to happen. A similar hope would be for his flight to exile, as President Bush has been demanding. That hope is paper thin.

The next hope in my hierarchy of hopes is that Saddam would be disarmed peacefully; the U.N. would allow the inspectors to continue as long as necessary, until the world is assured that Saddam no longer has weapons of mass destruction. Today, President Bush eliminated that option. It will not happen.

The fourth hope on my hierarchy of hopes is that, if war is inevitable, the United States is able to persuade the United Nations and the Security Council of the legitimacy of its need to use military force. Then with the support of the world itself, a war with Iraq has substantial justification. President Bush has confessed his diplomatic failure - he was unable to persuade others. This option is now a dead option.

My list of hopes has disintegrated. The only option to be considered now is war. It seems inevitable as the clock ticks down.

Nobody, as they say, wants war. It is inevitable that there will be many non-combatant casualties. My biggest frustration lies deeper than just the fact that a war will take place, and people will be killed. My strongest outrage is that this chain of events demonstrates that humanity is making little progress, that our leaders place their trust primarily in the old solution of war, and that our species hasn't come very far in the last century. Human civilization must, absolutely must, join together to find alternatives to violence. I am disappointed in the United Nations. Over the last 12 years the United Nations failed in its responsibility to enforce sanctions against Iraq, and in doing so, it has weakened its authority under the present crisis. It has failed human civilization and missed the opportunity to lead us toward a world community without the need for war.

I am disappointed in my own country. In our zeal against Iran in the 1980s, we created our own monster by supporting and arming Saddam Hussein. We have long operated under the foreign policy that "the enemy of our enemy is our friend." Now we are paying the price. And I am disappointed in my own country for the same reason I am disappointed in the United Nations. We have forfeited a golden opportunity to take the human race one more step toward civilized behavior, to create an effective world community that turns to solutions other than war.

There is some encouraging news, though. There is a report at the end of the day that there are now thirty countries signed on in support of what seems to be the inevitable American invasion of Iraq. Good news, I say, because at least it indicates our country does, in fact, admit some importance of world cooperation. I count this as a sign of some progress, in my desperate search for encouragement.



Wednesday, March 19:

Today is likely to be the day war starts, beginning at 8 o'clock tonight.

The newspaper carries specifics about the "thirty nation coalition" that was reported today. There are some significant countries on the list. It includes, in addition to Britain, Australia, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Spain, and Poland. It is not as exhaustive as the list of 90 countries in 1991 Gulf War, and not nearly as many nations are offering material support, but at least this list helps alleviate some of my concerns about this being a rogue action. I guess if it is going to happen inevitably, it helps to have some support.

I heard on the radio a report that since Hussein adamantly refuses to leave, President Bush judges that to be a rejection of the ultimatum, and feels justified in beginning the war before the deadline. I hope that is not so.

The church Council meeting went very well. As usual, everyone was in a good mood, with lots of laughter. Yet all of us were aware of the cloud of war over us. I looked at my watch a few times, seeing when eight o'clock came and went. The meeting was over at about eight-thirty, and I went straight to a phone to call home. "Has the war started yet?" I asked. "Not yet," was the answer.

It was only temporary, of course. About 9:30, regular programming was interrupted to say that bombs were dropped on Baghdad. It turned out to be about a dozen cruise missiles. It seems that the military received intelligence that there was a good chance Saddam Hussein was holed up in a particular house and bunker, and they felt it was worth the chance of getting him before actually beginning the invasion. Of course, there is no immediate word about whether they hit their target. About an hour later, Saddam appears on television. There is serious question about whether it actually was Saddam Hussein, or whether the appearance had actually been taped previously.

When it was reported that there appeared to be no intent to begin the massive bombing strategy tonight, it seemed a good time to call it a day.



Thursday, March 20:

By now, it is almost habit to turn on the news first thing in the morning. No war started yet, they say. Analysts tell us, as we've often heard before, that there is an advantage to beginning an invasion in the dark, at nighttime. I again calculate. If it gets dark around nine o'clock there, that would be about one o'clock our time. I estimate that the invasion might likely begin today at one o'clock.

My math turned out to be correct. The invasion has begun, the bombing has begun, the war is under way, it seems. It is reported that the ground troops have crossed the border from Kuwait into Iraq. Long lines of tanks begin the trip to Baghdad. There are pictures of bombs dropping on the city, but the Pentagon says again that this is still just preliminary operations. The war plan is to saturate the military and governmental sections of Baghdad with bombs. They are calling that the "shock and awe" operation. The bombings today are not, they tell us, the "shock and awe" bombings. They say we'll know it when we see it.

It seems the delay is to get a better sense of what damage was done yesterday, specifically if Saddam Hussein was killed. If those opening bombs succeeded in killing him and his leadership, then they would think twice about doing the more massive bombing.

The news again reports on the world taking sides for and against this war. It is time again to reflect. No countries, it seems to me, including even the Arab neighbors of Iraq, are actual supporters of Saddam Hussein. He is alone. The only question that is to be considered is whether all peaceful efforts to disarm him have been exhausted.

We hear it from military and civilian leaders alike, from American, French, Russian, and Chinese. All agree with this statement: War must be the last resort, undertaken only after all other avenues have been tried and failed. I will presume that everyone who says it means it: President Bush, President Chirac, General Franks, President Putin. The world is in disagreement, then, only over whether we have exhausted every possible peaceful avenue available. The French, Germans, Russians, and others say the work of the inspectors is not finished, and we are not yet at the point of "last resort." American leadership believes that road is futile.

Put differently, the question is "why now?" What is the reason for going to war instead of allowing the inspectors to complete their work. The world seems divided on this.

Friday, March 21:

Not much has changed as I tuned in this morning. Ground troops are progressing, and probably will reach Baghdad in two or three days. I recall that nightfall in Iraq coincides with about one or two o'clock here.

I check again around that time, and sure enough it is happening: "shock and awe." What a chilling image it provides - a city of millions with hundreds of bombs exploding. The sky lights up and the city is illuminated in continuous flashes of light, like a strobe light in a night club. It seems several are exploded every second, and you wonder whether there is an end in sight.

"Shock and awe" is a fairly good summary of the effect of watching it. I consider that the last time I felt "shock and awe" in watching world events unfold on television was on September 11, 2001. I don't want to equate these two events. There are a thousand ways in which they are different, beginning with the fact that the 9/11 attack happened without warning and intentionally targeted civilians. Yet these two events share the same sense of "shock and awe": unbelievable, though we see it before our eyes. And we wonder, in watching, how human beings could be capable of such massive violence, destruction, and slaughter. Shock and awe, indeed.

It is explained that this is "precision" bombing, and that only military and government facilities are targeted and destroyed. I pray that that is true. Tom Brokow says that there are no civilians at these highly restricted government facilities, and even in time of peace, only high level government officials are permitted anywhere near these buildings. That is helpful to hear, but I also wonder who does the custodial and secretarial work in these buildings. It is hard to picture high level government officials mopping floors and filing letters.

At this point, it feels like I need to redirect my thinking. For months, I have been focused on whether this preemptive war was the right thing to do. My conclusion was that it would be wrong without the support of the United Nations. To do what we have done is to declare that any country has the right to attack any other country as long as they have the power to do so. Authority to do so is irrelevant.

I still believe that way. I still think that our failure to persuade the Security Council, and our decision to disregard their authority has turned back the clock in terms of the progress of human civilization. I still believe all that, but now it seems to me I'll have to trust history to judge the rightness or wrongness of this. The war is underway, and the question of its legitimacy is moot until it is over.

Right now, my concerns are about how this war unfolds, more than whether it should have happened in the first place. Right now I am concerned that we are sincere about avoiding civilian casualties, and minimizing military ones. Right now, I want the war over swiftly, I want Hussein to be gone, and I want our attention to be on repairing the damage we have inflicted, as well as the damage Hussein has inflicted, on the people of Iraq. I also hold a deep hope that those who say the Iraqis will welcome us as liberators are right. I hope that is true.



Saturday, March 22:

It seems there was another "shock and awe" attack on Baghdad overnight. The military tells us it will continue on and off for a while. Meanwhile, the caravan of armored ground troops continues toward Baghdad, and the question of Saddam's personal condition remains unknown.

There are reports of mass surrender of some of the regular Iraqi troops. And there are reports of Iraqi civilians welcoming our soldiers into their towns. Again, I hope this is all true. I am inclined to believe it, even though our government does not have a good record over the years in telling the truth when it comes to foreign affairs. Hopefully the media, which this time is traveling with the troops, can verify that these things are happening.



SUMMARY:

It is sobering to review the movement of my feelings over the week. I confess I entered the week with my strongest feelings focused on what led up to the decision I believe to be wrong. This war, it seemed to me, is a result of failure on the part of my own government. They failed to make a legitimate case before the world. They confirmed the world's view of American foreign policy as arrogant. They illustrate the failure of this human race to evolve beyond the jungle ethic of "might makes right."

I believe the United States owes to the world some evidence showing that we were not just acting out of greed for oil, or out of anger for what Hussein did to the President's father, or out of frustration because we can't catch Osama bin Ladin. By acting in conflict with international law, it is our responsibility to show the world that they need not fear us.

I started the week with this kind of focus and frame of mind, but it is fruitless to end the week with this feeling consuming me. In the reading this morning from Rodger Kamenetz, who wrote about our response to the September 11 attack, he said that anger is natural, but if we let it consume us, we will ultimately become like the object of our anger. "If we go along with anger. . . we will become the image of what we pursue."

I still think there is some relevance of this insight into understanding the extent of American rage at Saddam Hussein, and the extremes to which our government is pursuing him.

Now I need look at this insight more personally. I must not let my anger at what I believe to be a mistaken policy lead me down a road I would regret. The war has happened, and is happening. Down the road history may offer its own opportunity for "I told you so," but that is not what is needed now.

Today we need to make sure that our focus is on other things.

I end this sermon with hope for the next week - that it will not be as stressful as this one - and move on with the world and with you. I'd like to balance positive with negative, and also to think of the courage of many of our country's military who are on the line today. I'll paraphrase an interview given this week by the mother of one of the marines who lost his life in the first days of the war. She said something like this:

"He was always a boy who knew what he wanted and how he wanted to life his life. I couldn't afford to send him to college, so he joined the marines and served his country. When he finished, he had a fully paid college education. When the marines contacted him afterward to serve in this war, he was devoted to his country and proud to serve. He told me the day before he left, "Mom, there's so much we don't know but someday will understand. But no matter what happens, if I don't come back, you'll know that I died for something I believed in, being exactly where I wanted to be, working toward a goal I believed more important than anything else."



There is much to admire in that young man. All of us are blessed to find something to devote our lives to. This applies as much to those who are working for peace and against this war as it does to those who serve to make it end successfully. May this week of hearing the war drums pound give us resolve to strengthen our commitments to our own values. May this week hear the war drums come to silence, for a long, long time.