A Case of Anti-War False Prophecy?
Written by Wayne Lusvardi
Saturday, November 12, 2005

Fanatical mullahs have been let loose to issue anti-war fatwas in the mosques and madrassas of the city of Pasadena, California!

The Pasadena First Congregational hurch (UCC), the Pasadena Neighborhood Church, and the All Saints Episcopal Church have opposed the I.R.S. warning that an anti-Iraq War sermon by the Rev. George Regas may have jeopardized the tax exempt status at All Saints Church a year ago (see “Politics vs. Pulpit - All Saints Church Sparks IRS Investigation,” go here). This controversy has received both national and international media coverage. The substance of Regas’ sermon was that it is a sin to value American lives over Iraqi lives and that the doctrine of pre-emptive war is morally wrong because “Iraq posed no imminent threat” to the United States.

As a psychiatric medic during the Vietnam War, I found Regas’ accusation that American military forces value American over Iraqi lives to fly in the face of the reality of the Iraq War. The number-one combat stress of British and American soldiers is reported to be the fear of a courtmartial or inquiry if they shoot a combatant (see: U.K. Troops Have Court Martial Stress in Iraq, London Times Online, November 6, 2005 -- go here).

As to the charges against pre-emptive war in Iraq, do we really know Iraq wasn’t behind 9/11 and didn’t pose a threat to the United States? What we have been able to piece together is this: In 1981 Iraq threatened use of nuclear WMD’s and its Osirak nuclear reactor was destroyed by Israeli bombers. In 1987, Iraq attacked the USS Stark taking 37 American lives. 1993 World Trade Center bombing suspect Abdul Rahman Yasim was a government-supported Iraqi. It is documented that Saddam planned to assassinate a sitting U.S. president. Osama bin Laden got Iraq’s state-run television network to broadcast anti-Saudi propaganda. Iraq had a facility where terrorists trained to take over Boeing commercial airliners. The names and ID’s of the 9/11 hijackers were likely created by Iraqi intelligence but the Saudis blocked verification. Osama bin Laden issued a fatwa supporting Iraq against the United States in 1998 apparently to solicit money from Saddam Hussein. In 2002 the National Security Agency reported that Iraq and al Qaeda had a secret safe haven agreement. The 9/11 hijackers used sophisticated chemical sprays to disable pilots using Iraqi WMD technology. And U.S. leaders from both parties will not declassify captured documents from Baghdad with intriguing titles that may link Iraq to 9/11 (See Angelo Codevilla, No Victory, No Peace, Claremont Institute, 2005; Stephen Hayes, “Ten Documents the Bush Administration Should Insist the Intelligence Community Declassify,” weblink posted on RealClearPolitics.com on November 9, 2005 (go here).

The Christian anti-war movement may be suffering from what may be called inflated false prophecy. We know that Christian anti-war prophets are starting to lose their charisma when the people who are eagerly awaiting the next anti-war sermon a year after the fact are the bureaucrats in the other like-minded churches down the block. Sadly, what position we take on the war issue often has more to do with social and religious divisions in our community than the murky reasons for the war. Religious anti-war prophecy will continue to deteriorate to nothing more than propaganda by one or the other of the elite social classes in our community unless these social divisions can be transcended in the interest of the nation and the wishes and standards of the world.

About the Writer: Wayne Lusvardi worked for 20 years for the Metro Water District of So. Cal. and lives in Pasadena. The views expressed are his own . Wayne receives e-mail at waynelbox-blogger@yahoo.com..

Ellie

A Case of Anti-War False Prophecy?