Nobody Wins

I listened to President Bush tonight as he addressed the nation on primetime t.v. He talked about strategies, about good and evil, about national security, about defeating the enemy, about winning the war and being successful in Iraq.

I go and back and forth between sadness and anger as I think about this war, and listen to rhetoric about national security - and I know that my anger comes from deep, deep sadness. And it's not because I think everything was great in Iraq before we got there, or that I think the United States should not ever become involved beyond our borders. My deep sadness is from my certainty that war is never the answer. It never has been, from the time the prophet Micah dreamed of the day when swords would become plowshares -- and I'm sure for many ages even before Micah preached his vision.

I'm clear that I do not have a great answer for how we, the United States, should be involved in any part of the Middle East nor do I know how to 'exit' a war. I'm also clear that killing people is not a road to peace. War is never successful. Nobody wins.