disciplesX.com

Dear President Bush,

The Senate passed a very important bill today, signifying increased support for troops, increased healthcare benefits for injured soldiers, and increased hope that this quagmire in Iraq may soon draw to a close.

President Bush, your efforts in Iraq were perhaps born out of an ideal to make the world a better and safer place. In your vision, Iraq would become a great democracy that could spread peace and change a complex area of the world like the Middle East. Unfortunately, your ideas, like many others, met with reality.

The Middle East is a complex place, not because of its lack of democracy, but because of century old political and cultural divisions that date back far before America even had come to be. Peace will come to the Middle East, but only in due time, as good people within the region work carefully for that cause. Far too many times in the past, external powers have attempted to meld and shape that land into something it is not. Your military intervention has only led to mounting US casualties, ally casualties, and innocent civilian deaths.

While we have been stuck in Iraq, terrorists have launched plots and attacks across the world - in London, Spain, Greece, Indonesia, and elsewhere. The Taliban has resurged in Afghanistan. North Korea has tested a nuclear weapon. Increased extremism in places like southern Thailand is also growing.

Worse, where is the focus needed on other pressing issues? Efforts to rebuild in areas affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita are marred by inadequate government support and lack of a cohesive effort to insure race and economics are not used to keep good, hard-working people out of their homes. Throughout our country, reforms are desired to insure security for our people and the needs of the vulnerable. We need to restore power to the people, give citizens more ability to change and influence their government. We need transparency and higher ethics on Capitol Hill, starting at the White House.

But above all, we need to leave Iraq because Christ compels us. During this season of Lent, I hope you have had time to consider how Christ was willing to lay down his life for all of the world. This selfless act was not one of violence - it was one that broke the cycles of violence in the world. Christ gave himself willingly to the powers that use guns, missiles, and abuse as a means to achieve their ends, and in the end, on a beautiful Sunday morn, Christ proved that death has no final word. The resurrection, in a same way, can lead us to new thinking and solutions to our world’s problems by trusting that even the impossible is possible through God.

We must decide to embrace peace in our lives and in our policy and seek new ways to give voice to those who would help Iraq find a better tomorrow.

Please sign the bill, President Bush.

Nathan J. Hill
www.disciplesx.com
nathanjhill@gmail.com
registered voter in Oklahoma