Bryan Fischer
Nation-building in Iraq: epic fail
By Bryan Fischer
Follow me on Twitter: @BryanJFischer, on Facebook at "Focal Point"
It is impossible to do nation-building in a Muslim country, at least if you want to build a democracy. It cannot be done, and it is foolish — and expensive — to try. It cannot be done because there is no impulse toward freedom, choice and liberty in Islam.
The spirit that animates Islam is dark, dangerous and violent. It is a spirit of tyranny, domination and repression. The soil is sterile, so sterile that the seeds of democracy cannot possibly take root.
This is what American politicians do not understand. The spirit of liberty is unique to Christianity and Christian nations. As the Scriptures put it, "[W]here the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom" (2 Corinthians 3:17). Because politicians like George W. Bush grew up in America, they know that the thirst for freedom is deep in the DNA of the American psyche. They naively assume the same thirst for freedom exists in every human soul. It does not.
There is no hunger for freedom in the soul of Islam or an Islamic people. There is only the lust for domination and control. This means that it is impossible to build a democratic nation among a people who have not first embraced Christianity.
I told pastoral colleagues on the day we invaded Iraq in 2003 that one thing and one thing only would determine whether our military invasion was a success: did we leave behind a country with genuine religious freedom for Christians?
Alas, the answer is an abysmally grievous and emphatic "No." In fact, things are much worse for the Christian population of Iraq than when we went in. Saddam actually provided some protection for Christians in Baghdad, because Christians were the only honest, trustworthy people he could find to help him run the civic affairs of his nation. When Saddam went into his hidey-hole, what little protection Christians had disappeared with him.
Now today, according to writer Kenneth Timmerman, Iraq's Christians are "are on the verge of extinction." Christian owned businesses are being ransacked and burned, churches are being bombed, and Muslims for some time have been going virtually door to door in Baghdad looking for Christian families to kill.
And worse, the United States, a Christian country, is providing no refuge for these brothers and sisters in our common faith. We are allowing Muslim refugees by the tens of thousands to immigrate to the United States, but nary a Christian who fears for his life in a land that we supposedly liberated. (Stupidly, we are allowing the U.N. to determine who is eligible for refugee status in the United States, and, surprise, surprise, virtually only Muslims make the cut.)
We have paid a bitter price in our attempt to give the Iraqi people what they are incapable of receiving, a democratic form of government. We have lost 4,500 American lives and spent $800 billion. And for what?
Iraq, as I long predicted, began to lapse into sectarian and regional strife literally within hours of our departure.
Excerpts from a NewsMax article, Last US Troops Leave Iraq, Ending War (emphasis mine):
But Saddam's end only opened the door to years more of conflict as Iraq was plunged into a vicious sectarian war between its Shiite and Sunni communities. The near civil war devastated the country, and its legacy includes thousands of widows and orphans, a people deeply divided along sectarian lines and infrastructure that remains largely in ruins.
In the past two years, violence has dropped dramatically, and Iraqi security forces that U.S. troops struggled for years to train have improved. But the sectarian wounds remain unhealed. Even as U.S. troops were leaving, the main Sunni-backed political bloc announced Sunday it was suspending its participation in parliament to protest the monopoly on government posts by Shiite allies of Prime
And from FrontPage Magazine:
Iraq is facing renewed sectarian tension just as U.S. forces finishing leaving the country. On Monday, the Iraqi government issued an arrest warrant and travel ban on Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, a Sunni. At the same time, Prime Minister al-Maliki, a Shiite, is calling for the firing of Vice Prime Minister Saleh Mutlak, a Sunni. To make matters worse, Moqtada al-Sadr says he will revive his Iranian-backed Shiite militia in 2012 if any American personnel, including civilians, remain. His forces have much Sunni blood on their hands...
The sectarian tension is particularly worrisome because U.S. forces have now left Iraq. The Sunnis distrust the Iraqi security forces, arguing that they are often a tool of sectarian forces. Moqtada al-Sadr is threatening to reconstitute his Mehdi Army militia so it can target any remaining American civilian presence, such as contractors. There is reportedly discussion about 800 to 1,000 American trainers returning to Iraq. If his militia is revived, the Sunnis will likely be provoked into bringing back their own militias, even if al-Sadr says he won't target Iraqis.
In other words, our nation building efforts in Iraq have been a cataclysmic, epic fail. The only people who did not see this coming are the people who believe, contrary to history, facts, and the Qur'an itself, that Islam is a religion of peace.
(Unless otherwise noted, the opinions expressed are the author's and do not necessarily reflect the views of the American Family Association or American Family Radio.)
© Bryan Fischer
December 22, 2011
Follow me on Twitter: @BryanJFischer, on Facebook at "Focal Point"
It is impossible to do nation-building in a Muslim country, at least if you want to build a democracy. It cannot be done, and it is foolish — and expensive — to try. It cannot be done because there is no impulse toward freedom, choice and liberty in Islam.
The spirit that animates Islam is dark, dangerous and violent. It is a spirit of tyranny, domination and repression. The soil is sterile, so sterile that the seeds of democracy cannot possibly take root.
This is what American politicians do not understand. The spirit of liberty is unique to Christianity and Christian nations. As the Scriptures put it, "[W]here the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom" (2 Corinthians 3:17). Because politicians like George W. Bush grew up in America, they know that the thirst for freedom is deep in the DNA of the American psyche. They naively assume the same thirst for freedom exists in every human soul. It does not.
There is no hunger for freedom in the soul of Islam or an Islamic people. There is only the lust for domination and control. This means that it is impossible to build a democratic nation among a people who have not first embraced Christianity.
I told pastoral colleagues on the day we invaded Iraq in 2003 that one thing and one thing only would determine whether our military invasion was a success: did we leave behind a country with genuine religious freedom for Christians?
Alas, the answer is an abysmally grievous and emphatic "No." In fact, things are much worse for the Christian population of Iraq than when we went in. Saddam actually provided some protection for Christians in Baghdad, because Christians were the only honest, trustworthy people he could find to help him run the civic affairs of his nation. When Saddam went into his hidey-hole, what little protection Christians had disappeared with him.
Now today, according to writer Kenneth Timmerman, Iraq's Christians are "are on the verge of extinction." Christian owned businesses are being ransacked and burned, churches are being bombed, and Muslims for some time have been going virtually door to door in Baghdad looking for Christian families to kill.
And worse, the United States, a Christian country, is providing no refuge for these brothers and sisters in our common faith. We are allowing Muslim refugees by the tens of thousands to immigrate to the United States, but nary a Christian who fears for his life in a land that we supposedly liberated. (Stupidly, we are allowing the U.N. to determine who is eligible for refugee status in the United States, and, surprise, surprise, virtually only Muslims make the cut.)
We have paid a bitter price in our attempt to give the Iraqi people what they are incapable of receiving, a democratic form of government. We have lost 4,500 American lives and spent $800 billion. And for what?
Iraq, as I long predicted, began to lapse into sectarian and regional strife literally within hours of our departure.
Excerpts from a NewsMax article, Last US Troops Leave Iraq, Ending War (emphasis mine):
But Saddam's end only opened the door to years more of conflict as Iraq was plunged into a vicious sectarian war between its Shiite and Sunni communities. The near civil war devastated the country, and its legacy includes thousands of widows and orphans, a people deeply divided along sectarian lines and infrastructure that remains largely in ruins.
In the past two years, violence has dropped dramatically, and Iraqi security forces that U.S. troops struggled for years to train have improved. But the sectarian wounds remain unhealed. Even as U.S. troops were leaving, the main Sunni-backed political bloc announced Sunday it was suspending its participation in parliament to protest the monopoly on government posts by Shiite allies of Prime
And from FrontPage Magazine:
Iraq is facing renewed sectarian tension just as U.S. forces finishing leaving the country. On Monday, the Iraqi government issued an arrest warrant and travel ban on Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, a Sunni. At the same time, Prime Minister al-Maliki, a Shiite, is calling for the firing of Vice Prime Minister Saleh Mutlak, a Sunni. To make matters worse, Moqtada al-Sadr says he will revive his Iranian-backed Shiite militia in 2012 if any American personnel, including civilians, remain. His forces have much Sunni blood on their hands...
The sectarian tension is particularly worrisome because U.S. forces have now left Iraq. The Sunnis distrust the Iraqi security forces, arguing that they are often a tool of sectarian forces. Moqtada al-Sadr is threatening to reconstitute his Mehdi Army militia so it can target any remaining American civilian presence, such as contractors. There is reportedly discussion about 800 to 1,000 American trainers returning to Iraq. If his militia is revived, the Sunnis will likely be provoked into bringing back their own militias, even if al-Sadr says he won't target Iraqis.
In other words, our nation building efforts in Iraq have been a cataclysmic, epic fail. The only people who did not see this coming are the people who believe, contrary to history, facts, and the Qur'an itself, that Islam is a religion of peace.
(Unless otherwise noted, the opinions expressed are the author's and do not necessarily reflect the views of the American Family Association or American Family Radio.)
© Bryan Fischer
The views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of RenewAmerica or its affiliates.
(See RenewAmerica's publishing standards.)
