Politics of Religion Part Two

After every war, peace prevails, and I see no reason why it should not hold true in Iraq, as it has after WW-II, in Korea and Vietnam. The end of war is the beginning of peace, reason enough for America to leave Iraq now.

Image titled "Bush the War President" is a likeness of President Bush made up of photographs of soldiers killed in Iraq. Courtesy: cavenger.files.wordpress.com

(PASO ROBLES, Calif.) - September 11, 2001 played a significant part in what followed, the effect of which can be seen in Iraq that, if it didn't deserve to be invaded by America, nevertheless suited President Bush’s larger purpose. The result has been to widen the religious divide leading to wholesale death and dreadful destruction and it is a fallacy to believe that America and the world are safer because the Bush Administration may have seen 9/11 as an opportunity to pursue a more personal and religious agenda.

As a War President, Geo. W. Bush uses his Commander-in-Chief status to exercise authority over a populace who resents the threat it poses to its democratic values. The object, it appears, is to spread the Gospel of Evangelical Christianity even if it means sacrificing American wealth in dead, wounded and hundreds of billions of dollars to achieve his, and the radical-right’s agenda.

He appoints persons to positions of power who, if they play by his rules. he will protect. His hypocrisy exacerbates his intention at the expense of the democratic nation he purports to lead by systematically refusing to adhere to the will of the people and by insisting his will be done. His obstinacy has eroded the Balance of Power and diminished the rights of citizens to share in decisions he claims he alone is qualified to make.

After George Tenent of CIA fame retired, he promoted his book on Talk Shows, and justified the invasion of Iraq by telling President Bush what he wanted to hear, that the invasion would be a "slam-dunk," for which Tenent was awarded The Medal of Freedom.

But Tenent’s most telling insistence was "America does not torture people," in spite of contrary evidence at Abu Ghraib, and by water-boarding during interrogations. His justification is based on the Christian assumption that “life’ exists only within the confines of Christianity beyond which there is only evil and non-life.

Pope Benedict XVI said in November 2008 that the only avenue to God is through the Catholic Church. I doubt Evangelists agree,. But as evangelicals they accept the premise that non-Christians lack the essential people-quality of civilized beings which explains Tenent’s remarks, and Bush’s refusal to talk to the leaders of his “axis of evil.” His .radicalism is draining America of its ethic, its reputation, its wealth in lives and wounded, and wasted hundreds of billions of dollars to prove his misguided religious and irrelevant point.

Iraq is a virtual replay of the Forgotten War in the Philippines [1898-2015] that ended when Moslems in the southern part of the island surrendered. Geo. Bush wants Iraq to be an extension of U.S. influence and a base of operation in the Middle East similar to the Philippines of one-hundred years ago Anything less is considered surrender and defeat as it was in the western Pacific and Asia when expansionists of the McKinley and Teddy Roosevelt Administrations accused their dissenters, just as Bush and his Administration do today, of wanting to “cut and run” from the enemy, and of “cowardly” wanting to “take down the American flag in the face of an enemy that has fired on it,” conveniently ignoring that Americans fired on them first. Obviously, the Republican-God-philosophy has not changed, even if it remains purposefully obscure.

Robert Arbrey in his book, The Territorial Imperative, expresses the interesting fact that possessors of territory are usually the victor if and when invaded. Although his work was devoted to the study of animals, people it should be remembered are animals too. His thesis seems to be holding true in Iraq where the insurgency appears to have the upper hand in its determination to defeat the invaders by callous and inhumane methods.

The Iraq War is Bush’s War who, because of his beliefs, refuses to admit it is wrong. “I have a vision of the future that is different than that of the majority of Americans,“ he says, and an excerpt from an article by Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post Writers Group [in the San Francisco Chronicle, Friday July 20, 2007] pretty much says it all:

The Last Hawk Standing

At a News Conference [the week ending 07/13-07] at the White House for nine invited conservative pundits, Eugene Robinson says, [David] Brooks quoted Bush as saying about his vision, “It is more of a Theological perspective. I do believe there is an Almighty, and I believe a gift of that Almighty to all is Freedom. And I will tell you that is a principle that no one can convince me that [sic] doesn’t exist.”

Brook’s closing comment was]: “The president of the United States believes God has chosen him to bring [a Christian] Freedom to the world . . . and he doesn’t care what the polls [of] the American People think. He refuses to acknowledge setbacks in his Crusade.”

Bush’s vision of the future cannot conceive that Jesus [his presumed Universal God] would allow America to lose a war that “God laid on his shoulder,” any more than radical Islam will admit Allah would lead Moslems to defeat. Christianity and Islam have been contesting with one another at times for more than fifteen-hundred years without decision.

After every war, peace prevails, and I see no reason why it should not hold true in Iraq, as it has after WW-II, in Korea and Vietnam. The end of war is the beginning of peace, reason enough for America to leave Iraq now.

Here are the other parts to this series on Salem-News.com:

Politics of Religion Part One

Politics of Religion Part Three

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Kenneth G. Ramey generates excellent, provocative articles on the subject of religion and world affairs. We are pleased that Ken's "lone wolf" presence as a writer in the world has been replaced by a spot on our team of writers at Salem-News.com. Raised in Minnesota and California during the dark years of the Great American Depression, Ken is well suited to talk about the powerful forces in the world that give all of us hope and tragedy and everything in between. You can write to Ken at: kgramey@sbcglobal.net