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Courage and Clarity

Author:		Stephen Waters
Posted:		4/9/04; 11:36:43 AM
Topic:		Courage and Clarity
Msg #:		65 (top msg in thread)
Prev/Next:		64/67
Reads:		4127

Note: Sent in 2003 to an Iraqi newspaper

To the editor:

Courage comes from understanding what needs to be done and why.

All national leaders and political candidates should convey convey to those who oppose our effort in Iraq with violence just why our courage will persist:

We mourn each casualty for the family and friends who are touched, nevertheless we have the resolve to go on because principles at the core of civilization are threatened. Our resolve is amply demonstrated by silent testament of row upon row of our fallen in Flanders and Normandy.

Don't expect a timetable. Americans can plausibly leave Iraq only when the country has the structure to assure peaceful problem resolution and when two simple concepts at the core of civilization, long associated with Islam, are bound to the new Iraqi constitution.

First, from the Muslim Sunnah (An-Nawawi's Forty Hadeeth: No. 13) "None of you [truly] believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself." This is the principle of RECIPROCITY, commonly called the golden rule. This constitutional principle institutionalizes a single society, open to everyone, regardless of ethnic background, religion or gender. Common to all religions, Confucius succinctly said, "Don't do to others what you don't want done to you."

Secondly, all Iraqis must retain the ultimate authority to CONTINUOUSLY IMPROVE their country. They dare not relinquish complete control to people claiming special technical or religious insight. In the interpretations available to us, the Qur'an, the word of Allah, explains that God put mankind on earth to take charge of the physical world as vice regent, viceroy or khalif. [Al Baqara 2:30] Accordingly, ALL citizens forever retain the responsibility to fashion and improve the future. That responsibility is two-fold:

1. All Iraqis must permanently and regularly have the constitutional opportunity, based on new experience, to continuously and repeatedly correct how they are governed.
2. To learn how wisely to decide demands transparency and accountability in leadership and universal excellence in education.

You won't find these concepts woven into the fabric of the United Nations. Creation of the U.N. Charter in the 1940s avoided the issue of when a member nation like Saddam's Iraq might forfeit its sovereignty. Enough U.N. members are so discomfited by the sovereignty issue that until the U.N. deals with it, countries that understand these concepts will have to band together outside the U.N. to protect themselves against those who don't. Saddam Hussein's surreptitious pursuit of extraordinary weapons, of deceit, of war, of genocide provides ample reason to forfeit sovereignty.

Meanwhile, to erode the violent opposition, expect us to absorb punishment, to make inroads into guerilla command and control, to convey clear objectives, to rebuild infrastructure to improve life for Iraqi citizens and then to leave the way we did after World Wars I and II. Expect courage.

Regards/Stephen