words not war...

I came a cross an article on cnn.com yesterday that refers to a report that the US is "preparing a battlefield in Iran." Those are some pretty scary words for me. Now, of course, there is no telling how accurate the article is because some journalists like to stretch the truth and our government isn't always the best at telling the truth. But at any rate, I really hope it is not accurate! I've become a news/politics junkie as of late, and from what I read, it seems that an attack on Iran would be the absolute worst thing we could do right now.

Yes, we need to tow a pretty hard line in keeping Iran from developing nuclear weapons. But it seems to me that an attack would only strengthen their resolve to continue their development, not stop it. It would also incite more hatred towards the US and would encourage more terrorism. There doesn't really seem to be any way that we could conduct any military operations in Iran that would not require a long-term commitment to staying in Iran like we have done in Iraq.

I've been reading a book called God's Politics: Why the Right Gets it Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get it written by Jim Wallis, the founder of a Progressive Christian movement called Sojourners. In his book, he talks about the need for more than just protesting against certain actions of the government. Instead, he calls for support of better ideas that will change the things you might not like. For example, in the lead-up to the Iraq war, his organization along with several other Christian leaders had drafted a six-step plan for a nonviolent solution in Iraq including a multi-nation criminal investigation against Saddam Hussein. His plan was seriously considered by many lawmakers in both the US and in Great Britain. He spoke in front of several panels and even met with Tony Blair. In the end, however, according to Wallis, the Bush administration refused any more talks about the plan and the rest is history.

Again, we're not privileged to all that happened there, but what I do know is that I want to be active in doing all I can to be sure we don't go through with military actions against Iran at this time. So I went to the words not war petition and signed to make my voice heard. Obviously, signing an online petition will not stop a war, but I feel it is a small start. If you're not very familiar with the issue, you can find a lot of resources here.