Scenes of wanton waste and cruelty

This week has seen the strange juxtaposition of the 12th anniversary of the September 11 attacks and our government's call to bomb Syria in response to its use of chemical weapons on its citizens. It was not long after the attacks that we pointed the finger at Afghanistan for harboring bin Laden and his little band of thugs. Because of the Taliban-run government's refusal to turn over the terrorists, we bombed the country to topple the regime. Fast forward 12 years and you find the Taliban still active, the government filled with corrupt politicians, and our military occupation coming to an end. Here is the perfect exclamation point to this absurd nightmare:

Facing a tight deadline and tough terrain, the U.S. military has destroyed more than 170 million pounds worth of vehicles and other military equipment as it rushes to wind down its role in the Afghanistan war by the end of 2014. 

The massive disposal effort, which U.S. military officials call unprecedented, has unfolded largely out of sight amid an ongoing debate inside the Pentagon about what to do with the heaps of equipment that won’t be returning home. Military planners have determined that they will not ship back more than $7 billion worth of equipment — about 20 percent of what the U.S. military has in Afghanistan — because it is no longer needed or would be too costly to ship back home.

Many in this country still feel that Afghanistan was a 'just' war with less than optimal outcomes. That is half right. No one can contest the high cost and poor outcomes of the war. It is the 'just' part that stands out as untrue. In our rush for vengeance, we failed to accomplish anything beyond blowing up things and killing people. I see nothing remotely resembling justice. Just wasted blood, materiel, and money.

Now we are telling the world that military action against the Syrian government is justified. It is just the latest example of what happens when human civilization crumbles into chaos. Both sides are becoming consumed with hatred. In fact, it is a hatred so potent that it will last for generation after generation. Here is a first hand account from a photographer documenting the civil war.

The man was brought in to the square. His eyes were blindfolded. I began shooting pictures, one after the other. It was to be the fourth execution that day I would photograph. I was feeling awful; several times I had been on the verge of throwing up. But I kept it under control because as a journalist I knew I had to document this, as I had the three previous beheadings I had photographed that day, in three other locations outside Aleppo. 

The crowd began cheering. Everyone was happy. I knew that if I tried to intervene I would be taken away, and that the executions would go ahead. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to change what was happening and I might put myself in danger. 

I saw a scene of utter cruelty: a human being treated in a way that no human being should ever be treated. But it seems to me that in two and a half years, the war has degraded people’s humanity. On this day the people at the execution had no control over their feelings, their desires, their anger. It was impossible to stop them. 

I don’t know how old the victim was but he was young. He was forced to his knees. The rebels around him read out his crimes from a sheet of paper. They stood around him. The young man was on his knees on the ground, his hands tied. He seemed frozen. 

Two rebels whispered something into his ear and the young man replied in an innocent and sad manner, but I couldn’t understand what he said because I don’t speak Arabic. 

At the moment of execution the rebels grasped his throat. The young man put up a struggle. Three or four rebels pinned him down. The man tried to protect his throat with his hands, which were still tied together. He tried to resist but they were stronger than he was and they cut his throat. They raised his head into the air. People waved their guns and cheered. Everyone was happy that the execution had gone ahead.

It is impossible to argue with the suggestion that nearly 3 years of "civil" war "has degraded people's humanity," What good will our bombs do in this toxic environment of hatred and grief? The same good they did in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, and Libya. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. And yet, the president is calling for blood, seemingly blind to the less than ideal outcomes in our previous military misadventures. Repeating the same mistakes over and over will somehow turn out better this time. Rubbish!!

Christ calls us to heal the world, not open new wounds. If you want to see why the Lord told his followers to become peacemakers, look no further than the fruits of our military interventions over the past decade or so.