<p>As a Christian, I think Jesus weeps whenever a war occurs, or whenever someone causes violence, pain, or suffering on another person. War and violence is definitely not something that is compatable with the message of Christ. HOWEVER, we live in a world where if you are not willing to defend yourself now and again, you will end up as someone's slave. Governments must have the right to defend themselves against attack, for the well-being of their citizens, to keep the peace. This may or may not be less-than-Godly, but the vast majority of human beings nevertheless support this notion. Don't you?</p>
<p>I firmly believe that this is what the US and her allies are trying to do in Afghanistan and Iraq. We were attacked viciously on 9/11, and in order to protect our citizens from further such attacks, we had to do something unique. Unfortunately, there is no country called Al-Qaedia -- those who want us dead are a shadowy entity, not a state. The question then became, how can we stop them? The answer, to the Bush administration, was to plant democracy in the heart of the Middle East, the breeding ground of the deadly ideology known as radical Islam. And if the US and her allies can succeed in establishing self-sustaining democracies there, and liberty (as it tends to do) spreads, we will all be much safer because of it. (This is why, BTW, the insurgents and terrorists in Iraq are fighting so hard against us -- they know that healthy democracies in the region will be the end of them.)</p>
<p>The war in Iraq is not about killing people; it is about saving lives. We are defending ourselves against the proponents of radical Islam in the most effective and humane way possible. I wish more people could see through the liberal anti-Bush hysteria and understand this. It seems the left would just rather put their heads in the sand and pretend that we aren't in danger.</p>