War is part of the problem, not the answer

Ms. Linskey’s article (CR, June 21) was both touching and provocative. It describes the brutal assault of Muslim fanatics on Christians in Iraq and the decimation of the Christian community there. It is not hard to feel heartbroken and at the same a powerful connection to them. The world condemns these vicious acts. But the world must also note, as the article makes clear, the effect that our action to invade and occupy Iraq has had on the number of violent deaths – year to year a 25-fold increase. Deaths alone don’t tell the whole Assyrian story, where hundreds of thousands have fled Iraq to Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt. It must be remembered also that as terrible as the Assyrian tragedy is, it is but part of a larger, even more terrible one for Sunnis and Shiites, most equally innocent. How hollow the promises we made must seem now to the Iraqis as they look around and witness a living hell. Iraq is a reminder that war is not the answer, but a great part of the problem and that gentle old lady that carried the sign saying so before the war was right, and all the pundits, politicians, generals and bureaucrats who said it was the answer were wrong. Wrong then, and as they beat the war drums for Iran, wrong again.