Christian Crusader

To my mind, the war and occupation of Iraq were like the first steps in a very long division problem. The first few calculations were wrong (mistaken or massaged intelligence, undermanned and undersupported troops, corrupt occupational government, Abu Graib, etc.), but the solver couldn’t go back and erase them, and start over. He or she just had to just keep plugging on, and no matter if all the rest of the calculations were correct, the answer will still be wrong.

But some, who may even acknowledge mistakes in execution, would still see the war and occupation as good works. Those Bible verses on the covers of DOD intelligence briefings suggested as much (discussed in my first posting), and I have wondered how widespread is the notion that the War on Terror (though the Obama administration no longer calls it that) is a Christian holy war. So I went swimming through the web and came across an interview with David French in Citizenlink.org, a part of Dr. Dobson’s Focus on the Family. David French blogs for the National Review on academic issues (Phi Beta Cons) and is senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, a legal group that takes on threats to Christian privileges in the public square.

The Citizenlink interview’s angle was French’s decision to resume active duty in the Army Reserves, and he served for a year in Iraq. But French’s explanation of the military’s role is what interested me—a frank statement of Christian crusade.

First, there is the common dumbing down of the enemy, a demonization, and a grandiose depiction of their threat.

. . .the depravity of the enemy has to be seen to be believed. In America, we have no frame of reference for this kind of evil, for individuals whose ability to inflict pain and death on innocent people is limited only by their imagination and power. We have no option but to defeat them, or we (and others in the world) will face truly barbaric terror.

Maybe this characterization of the enemy is inevitable, especially among those whose lives are at risk, and who may have to kill. We need only remember the American caricatures of Germans in WW I, the Japanese in WW II, or the Vietnamese during the Vietnam War. And it’s certainly not just an American habit. I agree that the tactics of Al Qaeda and other insurgents are heartless and appalling, and I can’t imagine the depths of suffering that American and allied troops, and the many more Iraqi and Afghan civilians, have experienced. To portray the enemy as irrational beasts perhaps is a useful way to mobilize home-front support for a dubious war and occupation. But it’s not smart way to comprehend an enemy who no doubt has logic, a rationale, even if we find their means and ends detestable.

French goes on to quote the Bible to back up his claim:

"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9

If a Christian doubts that fighting al-Qaida and trying to give Iraqis a chance to live a decent life is not “doing good,” then they neither understand our enemy nor the plight of the people of Iraq.

Well, this begs the question of what is “good,” yet, rhetorically, we are put in a position of not being able to ask this because the implication here is that if we’re not there with French, if we’re not sharing his role, than we cannot understand. While I agree I cannot know what it’s like to be in combat, being in the thick of it doesn’t necessarily give one the basis to claim that the invasion and occupation of Iraq is “doing good.”

But Captain French has another basis for making the claim. The war is about Christianity versus idolaters. In responding to a question of his opinion about the future for Christians in the US, he said:

. . .there remain millions upon millions of Americans who have not “bowed the knee to Baal,” and so long as that remains true, there is great hope.

If you don’t believe me, spend five minutes out here in eastern Diyala province, then go back to America. You’ll see our country with new eyes.

So we now have the picture. A powerful country with a core of proper believers who are holding moral decay of non-Christians at bay on the homefront, while engaging a barbarous, Baal-worshipping enemy abroad.

I suspect this picture isn’t widely shared among Americans, but it sure has been prominently displayed, and it mirrors the narrative we tell ourselves about Islamic fundamentalism--a core of jihadists bound and determined to rescue their nation from modernists and from the satanic West.