We haven’t covered Iraq much.
There has been a lot to talk about. Many Catholic blogs, including those I link to, talk about them often. Mark Shea’s Catholic and Enjoying It! has had many ongoing discussions about whether the war in Iraq met the Church’s Just War criteria. A new common topic is about torture, what it is and whether it is permissible.
Here is the latest on that to get a flavor of what’s going on there.
I hesitated to link to the post for a couple of reasons. First, I think Mark has gotten way too snarky since he came back from his book writing hiatus on some things, especially this. I’ve added a comment or two now and then but not being a regular poster, I think it gets lost in the discussion. Second, I don’t necessarily want to drag the animosity over here. It gets nasty there at times.
That’s why I bring this up. I hate to see this sort of thing go happen on blogs I like to read. I certainly understand that there are differing opinions on what is and isn’t torture. Not to mention what is and isn’t a Just War and whether one can disagree with a Pope on a particular case. What I don’t get is the automatic consignment of those who hold differing opinions to the worst possible categories of supporters of evil… torturers or terrorists depending on your point of view.
Anyway, knowing some of the other Maniacs are likely to disagree on this subject for various reasons, I am hoping to generate a more calm discussion over here.
Please note to potential commenters that I will not tolerate any of the name calling and ad hominem attacks that I have seen go on at other blogs. I can and will delete comments that cross a line. If you don’t know for sure if you are crossing the line, you probably are.
Comments
2 responses to “Iraq”
Yes this could have the potential of being a very unstable issue to discuss even with the most stalwert examples of calmness. I think it is important to stop and try to consider the validity of these issue’s. I myself have to stop and decided just how much of this release of information is based on someones political agenda regardless of Patriot or Terrorist. I can see situations like this report being used to fan the flames from both sides.
Once I have reached a conclusion on it factuality I then try to become aware of the feel of the situation.
The final step of examing the subject of this magnitude once you have reached a very informed finalization of your own opinion is to hold it within oneself.
I can no more define it as needed or totally uncalled for since I do not have to live directly in this world but I will say that even if I took the stand against
Torture I could see where I would tolerate it to save a loved one close to me. Yes this would be a very selfish exception but I know that I could choose it in certain circumstances. So therefore I will not speak out in a concrete manner on this issue but quietly keep the rest of my thoughts to myself on this matter.
It becomes an isometric exercise, that is it wears you out and accomplishes nothing. We aren’t going to convince anybody of anything on this deal. While I firmly believe that 25 years down the road, we’ll see a free and at peace middle east because of the forced introduction of democracy, W will not get any credit. Our attention span is simply too short for this kind of thing anymore, people just don’t remember that we occupied Germany and Japan for a decade before letting them have sovereignty back; and Germany saw its share of Nazi simp terror attacks (as it does again today) just as we do in Iraq. This kind of thing just doesn’t work in the kinds of timetables the TV generation is used to. We want a resolution and status quo ante before the last commercial.