Praying for Peace ­ Hell-Bent for War
by William E. Alberts*
April 4, 2003

In his recent news conference, President Bush said, “I pray daily. I pray for guidance and wisdom and strength. . . . I pray for peace.” I pray for peace (The New York Times, Mar. 7, 2003). In his State of the Union address, he said, “Once again we are called to defend the safety of our people and the hopes of all mankind. And we accept this responsibility.” He stated, “We go forward with confidence, because this call of history has come to the right country.” He made clear that “the liberty we prize is not America’s gift to the world, it is God’s gift to humanity.” He concluded, “We Americans . . . do not claim to know all the ways of Providence, yet we can trust them, placing ourconfidence in the loving God behind all of life and all of history. May he guide us now.” (The New York Times, Jan. 29, 2003)

To whom is President Bush praying? His administration held the power to decide whether there would be peace, or him leading “a coalition of the willing” into a pre-emptive war against Iraq. Contrary to the will of the majority of the UN Security Council’s 15-member nations, Bush and his two “willing” coalition partners “concluded that tomorrow is a moment of truth for the world,” and that “many nations [whose leaders evidently pray to a different deity than Bush “for guidance and wisdom and strength”] . . . now . . . must demonstrate that commitment to peace and security in the only effective way [italics added]: by supporting the immediate disarmament of Saddam Hussein.” (The New York Times, Mar. 17, 2003). The “moment of truth for the world” came: Bush gave Saddam Hussein and his two sons “48 hours” to get out of “Dodge” or Iraq would face “military conflict.” (The New York Times, Mar. 17, 2003)—i.e. “the full force and might of the United States military and we will prevail,” Bush had said earlier. (The New York Times, Jan. 29, 2003). The president of a foreign nation telling the president of another nation to leave his own country. Hussein would not bow to such a demeaning demand, and Bush obviously knew that.

Like the leaders of most UN Security Council nations, chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix evidently has a different understanding than President Bush of “the ways of Providence.” Blix was reported to have “lamented” Bush’s “moment of truth for the world” that abruptly ended the UN inspectors’ mission to disarm Iraq of any weapons of mass destruction. A Boston Globe story quoted Blix as saying, “I don’t think it is reasonable to close the door to inspections after 3 * months.” He “would have welcomed some months more.” He stated that “recent inspections proved far-ranging and more effective than any previously in Iraq.” The story disclosed that “specialists with the UN’s Monitoring, Verification, and Inspection Commission found no evidence that Iraq possesses weaponsof mass destruction despite leads from US intelligence. . . . While inspectors followed up leads from US intelligence,” the story continued, “Blix said, ‘I must regret we have not found the results in so many cases. We certainly have not found any smoking guns.’” ( Mar. 19, 2003)

President Bush’s daily prayers “for guidance, wisdom and strength” apparently led him to smell “smoking guns” throughout the UN inspectors’ disarmament work in Iraq: “I’m sick and tired of games and deceptions, and that is my view of timetables.” (The New York Times, Jan. 15, 2003) “You know, how much time do we need to see clearly that he’s not disarming. . . . As I’ve said, this looks like a rerun of a bad movie, and I’m not interested in watching it.” (The New York Times, Jan. 22, 2003) “The game is over.” “Tomorrow is a moment of truth for the world.”

President Bush repeated, “I pray for peace”-- all the while hell-bent for war. His behavior more likely indicates that he preys on peace. A similar mind-boggling assault on reality is his administration’s concerted attempt now to divert attention from its unprovoked and criminal war against Iraq by charging that “Iraq is not conducting warfare by the rules.” This US superpower aggression wrapped in “humanitarian aid.”

To whom does President Bush pray? His transparent attempt to hijack God to serve his administration’s military aggression against Iraq suggests a King George version of The Lord’s Prayer:

- My father who art in Kennebunkport,- Hallowed be our “burning Bush” name.- Our American global empire come;- Our oil-controlling will be done,- In Iraq as it is deep in the heart of Texas.- Give us this war, our enemy Saddam Hussein’s head.- And forgive us our 12 years of economic sanctions and our 21,000pound “Mother of All Bombs,” as we are already implicated in thedeaths of over 500,000 Iraqi children and plan to “shock and awe” thelife out of anyone who would even dare to think of doing unto us as we are doing unto them.- And lead us not into the United Nations,- But deliver us from the French—and the Germans, and the Russians,and the Chinese, and the Turks, and the Canadians, and the Mexicans,and the North Koreans, and the Palestinians, and Nelson Mandela, andall others who do not believe in our White-favored, imperialistic,John 3:16 God.- For ours is the kingdom and the power and the glory of “the greatestnation on the face of the earth,” forever and unilaterally ever! Amen!

The so-called threat Saddam Hussein poses to our nation’s security and peace in the world appears to be a pretext for waging war on Iraq for other reasons. Perhaps we need a new commandment: Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s oil. And another: Thou shalt not sacrifice the lives of American and Iraqi people to settle a family feud. And a third: Thou shalt not use “the loving God behind all of life and all of history” to pursue global domination.
Praying for peace always has involved unfolding one’s hands and also praying with one’s feet!—that includes nonviolent acts of civil disobedience to demonstrate love and power in the service of justice and the inalienable rights of all people.

*Dr. William E. Alberts is hospital chaplain at Boston Medical Center. Both a Unitarian Universalist minister and a United Methodist minister, he received his Ph.D. from Boston University in the field of Psychology and Pastoral Counseling. His numerous essays and articles on racism, politics and religion have appeared in newspapers, magazines and journals, with research reports on mainstream print media’s coverage of issues on race and racism published by the William Monroe Trotter Institute at the University of Massachusetts, Boston and by Sage race relations abstracts, London, UK. Dr. Alberts’ e-mail address is: william.alberts@bmc.org