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The Dismantling of War And with this caressing moment of the Creator cradling this grown man, hope suddenly blossomed.
We both realized, on some deep level, that Allah was there, speaking through me to him. And then he set the rage aside,
and warmly told me he understood America was trying to rescue the Iraqi people from all the oppression caused by the Saddam
regime. He said he forgave America for the wayward missile that destroyed his innocent family and friends. He expressed
gratitude for the hundreds upon hundreds of gifts and communications he has received from people in America regarding the
suffering of his young Ali. He expressed his gratitude to American soldiers who airlifted Ali to Kuwait and to Kuwait for
paying all of Ali's medical care. He said he knew, in time, all would be well, “insha'allah” (according to God's will). And
through that expression of forgiveness and profound faith I knew that Allah was also speaking to me through him. God was speaking to all of us through him. Allah forgives us for whatever we did or failed to do
regarding this Iraqi war. We all did the best we could. Every American soldier, every Bush cabinet member, every news
correspondent, every human shield, every Baath renegade, every Iraqi looter--we all did the best we could given the extremely
challenging and perverse conditions under which we suddenly found ourselves. War is a very perverse situation indeed. It is an ugly depiction of human creativity at its worst.
It is this portrait, this distorted artwork, which should be plundered and stolen from the annals of civilization. It is this
phenomena which should be dismantled permanently so that no child shall ever again beg with his desperate eyes “Please let me
die.” I want to believe that it is in our power to halt war. I want to believe that we can silence the raging jets and helicopters
forever. But the part of me that has been humbled to ashes since gazing upon Ali, recognizes that war, ultimately, is not the
real problem. War is merely an inadequate response, a poorly designed mechanism for solving the larger problems of human greed
and oppression which darken this world. As I once again sit in Starbucks at Souq Sharq, comfortably sipping hot chocolate with my Kuwaiti
friends and rejoicing that things are finally back to normal, I watch the strolling American soldiers with new eyes. They are
soooo young these men and women in the prime of their lives, still with acne on their faces, still believing in the American
dream they were taught in high school just a year or two ago. Before they were sent to the Iraqi desert they looked frightened,
timid while walking among the Arabs in the mall. Now they are relaxed, friendly. Having gazed into the eyes of Arab civilian
innocence, they know the Arabs aren't so bad after all. They know there are more good Arabs than bad Arabs. They know, in fact,
that the Arabs are wonderful people. For this reason, they sweltered out in the desert heat, almost suffocated in desert storms,
and risked the potential attack of lethal biochemical weapons. For this reason, they can believe in the killing they may have had
to do, all in hopes of making this region a better place for the Arab population. |
“ If the whole world got down on its knees one day and begged the Creator, begged the universe itself, for new life, new solutions to our problems, we just might take a quantum leap in our consciousness and find a creative alternative to battlefields and brigades. And then, maybe, we could celebrate the permanent dismantling of war. ” |
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