catapult magazine

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discussion

Iraq

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laurencer
Aug 28 2002
03:04 am

the bush administration seems hell-bent on starting a war with iraq, even though most armed forces generals (including secretary of state colin powell) think it’s a bad idea. it seems as though the administration sees no other available options for dealing with saddam hussein.

vice-president dick cheney emphasized this notion the other day, saying, “we will not simply look away, hope for the best and leave the matter for some future administration to resolve.” by saying this, cheney seems to imply that the only solution to saddam hussein’s dictatorship is one of force.

peter ackerman and jack duvall, authors of A Force More Powerful: A Century of Nonviolent Conflict, wrote an interesting article in the current issue of sojourners suggesting a more peaceful solution:

http://www.sojo.net/magazine/index.cfm/action/sojourners/issue/soj0209/article/020910.html

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grant
Aug 31 2002
08:20 am

Thanks, Rob! Excellent article. I think part of the reason non-violence has not been considered by Iraquis as a whole is that there is not much precedent in the Near East for non-violent solutions. I think this was a point Yancey made about Ghandi in India. Ghandi’s Hinduism needed Christian principles in order to be effective there.

The idea of a popular take-over is promising because it would lay a great foundation for a democratic country, which is one of Bush’s end-goals for overcoming Saddam Hussein’s regime.

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laurencer
Sep 04 2002
09:41 am

it seems like a lot of people mistake pacifism for passivity. i heard a sermon shortly after 9/11 about the just war theory in which the pastor completely discounted pacifism as an option because he equated it with not doing anything in response to the attacks.

pacifism is anything but passive. it is active non-violent problem-solving. the article points out a lot of historical examples where non-violence was used as a form of resistance. i also think pacifist activists should be pro-active, attempting to avoid conflict through policy.