www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Where the war would take place and other ponderances

We may or may not have had any choice in this war, but in any case we should pray for our (practicing Christian) President, whose burden of responsibility no one should have, our wonderful and brave men and women who are fighting, and for a quick end to this war.
My priest includes the President specifically, instead of ' all civil authorities' in the liturgical litanies...Kyrie Eleison! It was sad hearing ...'and for the captives', which for years and years, I thought was antiquated, because now we really do have 'captives' to pray for.

I hope I don't make you feel unconfortable with this comment, I don't ask this to you directly Alice but to Americans and British people in general.

I just don't understand why so many people in the developped Western World strongly believe that their governments are esencially good and nouble like in the ideal world, that they always have a good and nouble intention (in theory it should be that way, but our life is far from fantasy). Everything seems to be a fantasy, a pink world.

I've noticed (I don't mean in this forum) that many people regard the President of the United States as having some kind of infalibility and that everything he says or does is always for the good of the people and inspired by good and nouble intentions, no matter how good or bad is what he does (as well as many Catholics believe that the Pope is inspired by the Holy Spirit in most of his decisions and that his actions are always for the good of the Church).

In this case people seem to defend the President or the Prime Minister this way, following blindly what they do and praying for them in Church and wishing them good luck in their actions. I point out that the attitude of the Orthodox Bishops in Britain has been very different, there they support the British troops, it's their duty (and it is also right and fair and good for Americans to support their army and their country) but nothing that could imply any support to the attack againts Iraq in which Christians are suffering.

If I may, just another thought, without meaning to be controversial...where were all the 'anti-war' people in our war on Kosovo? (We didn't even cease fire on Orthodox Easter, even though it was requested of the President.

That's true, very few Orthodox complained about it but here there were many activities of Orthodox Bishops opposing the bombing of monasteries. Roman Catholics in the West were quite supportive of the Albanians because in Kosova there's a very important Latin Catholic community.

Anyway, I don't think fire will stop this Easter in Iraq, the Protestant authorities don't have much respect for the Christians of Iraq.

Baba,

Your fears have been realized.

"In the capital, looters ransacked the Iraqi National Museum, smashing display cases to grab treasures dating back thousands of years to the dawn of civilization in Mesopotamia.

''They have looted or destroyed 170,000 items of antiquity....They were worth billions of dollars,'' said deputy director Nabhal Amin, weeping openly."

Dan Lauffer

Dan,

That doesn't surprise me. They are looting hospitals. Sadam was a bad guy but it seems he was restraining some of the people there. What also bothers me is that there were no troops guarding the museum or hospitals but the Oil Ministry building is guarded.

Nicky's Baba

Could it have been the Saddam regime that cleaned out the National museum?

Paul

My husband said he heart that the museum looting may have been an "inside job". Will listen for more news reports.
denise

Like many others, I was greatly saddened to see the loss of many irreplaceable works of art in Iraq. Furthermore, I fear that postwar Iraq will not be a democratic country, but rather a destabilized one which will suffer from upheaval.

I remember the words of Pope Pius XII: "Nothing is lost by peace. All can be lost by war." Once warfare begins, it is not like a faucet one can turn on and off, and most people who start wars end up regretting them.

I sincerely hope that hostilities will end soon and the reconstruction of Iraq will begin. This war can mark a new era of democracy and stability with the rebuilding of Iraq, or it can simply go into the history books as another instance of a war that caused destruction and nothing else. I pray it will be the former.