This war has had its toll on both of our nations. There have so far been 4,071 American deaths due to the war and 29,911 wounded. Along with that are the 1,205,025 Iraq deaths due to the war (Griffis).
One of the many problems with this war is how the culture is reacting to the new imposed democracy that the Americans have brought with them. The people of Iraq are dealing with the fact that they now do not have a dictatorship lead by a tyrant, and now they have a more egalitarian system of government. The people have to adapt to a different type of government which according to Bush is not going to last. Bush said “We have no ambition in Iraq, except to remove a threat and restore control of that country to its own people” (Bush). Once we pull out of Iraq another tyrant is probably going to take over the government just like Hussein, which would defeat part of the purpose of our original reason for occupying their country. If we stay more and more of our soldiers will be injured and die.
Another problem with the war is that so far there is no end in sight. Most of the plans to withdraw our troops are hypothesized to take a long time in which we still leave some troops to keep watch over the progress of the country’s government. The problem most have with this plan is how long it would take. Others want all the troops pulled out at once, but that would create a mass power struggle within the country. So that would be a very unwise course to take as it being one of the main objectives of this war. Unless another form of action is taken by the winner of the presidential election we will still have some time to wait until this is over.
The bible talks a lot about war and about God being with the Israelites when they obey him. Though some times, these times being often in Israel’s history, the people of God will stray and worship idols of false gods. In Habakkuk 1:2-4 it reads, “How long, O LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, ‘Violence!’ but you do not save? Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.” (Habakkuk). This passage could be applied to the case of Iraq in which there is destruction, devastation, violence, strife, and conflict.
So it must be with us in our relationship with God. I do not mean the turning away from him when the going gets good, but to stay true to God and to know that it is on him that we stand on. Though when we obey God, “…the LORD is with me like a mighty warrior; so my persecutors will stumble and not prevail. They will fail and be thoroughly disgraced; their dishonor will never be forgotten” (Jeremiah). This passage shows that when we obey the LORD he will fight with us like a mighty warrior. He will aid us in our battles.
The war in Iraq is in need of a quick resolution. We should pray for our troops that the LORD would be with them like the mighty warrior in Jeremiah. If our troops are their by their own power they shall fall into the hands of the enemy and the LORD will not answer their pleas for help. They should go and return in the empowered by LORD.
