As you probably know, yesterday was the third anniversary of the beginning of the Iraq war. At this time one year ago I was sitting down to dinner with my family, and watching reports on the news about the first few hours of the war. That day I had argued with my classmates on why the war was premature and unjustified while sporting a black armband. Over these three years I have maintained a pretty steady position on the war. The news has gotten steadily worse and worse and it is getting harder and harder not to say ‘I told you so.’

Despite the efforts of a minority – a significant minority – of Americans that argued and picketed against the immorality and short-sightedness of the proposed military action, the Bush administration went ahead with its plans for war. I was among this minority which opposed starting the war. My opposition was deeply rooted in my moral conviction that warfare should only be used the most extreme of circumstances, and that this was certainly not such a situation.

Things are different now. The mission, we were told, has been accomplished. And we’re still there. The war now is not against an organized military lead by national government, but against insurgents whose guerrilla tactics make them difficult to root out. The opposition to the war has grown steadily since the beginning of the war. The anti-war movement has set it’s sights on bringing back the troops, including UUA President Bill Sinkford.

However, at this time I cannot side so strongly with the anti-war movement. I am not convinced that immediate withdrawal of troops the is best course of action. You might think that I’ve fallen for the “stay the course” rhetoric, but it seems to me that civil war is imminent. The bombing of the Shi’a Al Askari Mosque last month would seem to be evidence of this, despite the many news reports of that have Shi’as not blamed the attacks on Sunnis in general. In fact I recall a certain Shi’a state that he believed the attack was contrived by Americans to intensify sectarian violence.

Iraqis are not the only ones that believe the Bush administration has been conspiring. Rev. Davidson Loehr said in a sermon last month, that the administration had a hand in causing 9/11. This provoked a number of individuals to walk out of his sermon. Loehr, who has been known for some controversial sermons in the past, admitted, “I didn’t do research, and I flung out some Web sites. It was a very sloppy thing to do.”

I tried to imagine what I would have done in the situation. I think I would neither have walked out nor given a standing ovation both of which many of the congregation did. I despise the Bush administration, and would be (unfortunately) only mildly surprised if there proved to be another parallel between Bush and Hitler. However, I have really seen little evidence to support the claim.

Though I label myself as very liberal, it seems evident to me that I am moderate by UU standards. The only conspiracy involving the Bush administration I am sure of is the one that should be known by all Americans by now (if only the mass media were responsible enough); that invasion of Iraq was planned long before 9/11. I find that current direction of the war and just how evil the administration can be to be issues that are much more complicated.

I find inspiration in Rev. Sinkford’s prayer of the third anniversary of the war, “May we have the courage and conviction to honestly engage the difficult questions.” Or, as a Presbyterian minister commented on Rev. Loehr’s sermon, “I [...] think it’s a shame that somebody can bring up issues, and it’s not acceptable to even explore those as possibilities.” Only by critically exploring these issues through research and debate, like I did those three years ago, will we be able to say with confidence what is happening, what has happened and what we will do about it. Already I see this happening. In a recent post, including a member of Loehr’s congregation, on the UU community on LiveJournal debate has begun about the events of 9/11. To achieve peace we will have to take up intellectual arms and spar with our friends and foes alike.

To quote Rev. Sinkford more fully:
May we have the courage and conviction to honestly engage the difficult questions;
to speak hard truths,
to accept our responsibility to each other and the world.
May we find the strength and vision to end the cycles of violence.