The painful lessons of Iraq

And among those endorsing the war were many evangelical leaders, like Charles Stanley.

We could learn a lot from Charles Spurgeon by reading his pertinent words as we look at the history. Who knows, repentance might even flow forth.

http://spurgeonwarquotes.wordpress.com/lk

 

George H. W. Bush was criticized for not continuing to invade Iraq after Desert Storm.

George W. Bush did invade Iraq, but under different circumstances.

Was GWB right? Time will tell. Right now it doesn't appear to be so (at least according to the establishment press).

I spent time over in Saudi during the outbreak of OIF when I was with the TN Air National Guard. Of course we were ordered to be deployed so I had little choice in the matter.

What bugged me the most was how few of the talking heads who came out loudly in support of the war never quit their high paying jobs to enlist in the military during that time. If they REALLY supported the war effort, why didn't they prove it by serving over there?

It's easy to say "I'm all for you." But to actually prove it by serving is another thing.

 

A lot of us who went to the Persian Gulf are against the continued aggression. There's a faction who wants to work for peace, and others who are happy to blame, and let it end there.

But there was nothing conservative about either Bush presidency.

 

Your last statement is very true. Two comments to note. One is, we should have learned lots of these lessons from Vietnam, and two is, those who are generally for a war that has nothing to do with the security interests of the United States never served, fought, or had any price to pay for freedom.

That is why the Constitution is clear. If the situation is so dire that it requires the spilling of American blood, then we should declare war, fight to win with all we have and once the victory is won, make a swift exit.

There are many, many posters on this board who do not have a clue about the price of freedom.

 

You got that right.

 

Not to repeat the point, but I think a comparison is in order. Some of the angriest words that have flown back and forth on this board have been over the life and death issues of Calvinism vs free will and KJVO.

To me it says a lot about character. Those who have served, fought or paid a price for freedom generally do not jump into a fight, like on a chat board. Common sense says that those who flap their jaws, shoot off their big mouths, when it comes to the spilling of American blood, and never served one day, would anger the average vet beyond belief. Yet, it does not. A person who has paid the price keeps the feelings from that experience internally, and know he or she made it possible for all of us to live in freedom and liberty.

It is quite easy just from reading a series of posts who has and who has not served. The ones that have not are the loudest, most radical about playing war on their video games. They would love to shout "charge" as long as someone else is leading the way. These clowns usually think waving a flag at a 4th of July parade is their part.

There is nothing wrong with not serving, but there is a lot wrong with an armchair soldier or sailor saying we should have fought longer, or done this different, or what they would have done. The fact is they did nothing. As of late, notice the number of threads wanting to in essence nuke North Korea and Iran. There have even been some threads that argue that North Korea is an immenent threat to the United States. It is the same old ,tired pattern, those who never served are the quickest to want to act.

Just to sharpen the image, while these theological genuises are debating which version of the Bible is the best for you and me, soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines are still dying in Afghanastan, as they have in various places for over 200 years. May God watch over them and their families and bring them home soon.

 

...bring them home soon....amen.

 

Charles Spurgeon:

The Lord’s battles, what are they? Not the garment rolled in blood, not the noise, and smoke, and din of human slaughter. These may be the devil’s battles, if you please, but not the Lord’s. They may be days of God’s vengeance but in their strife the servant of Jesus may not mingle.

Christ’s church hath been also miserably befooled; for this I will assert, and prove too, that the progress of the arms of a Christian nation is not the progress of Christianity,

I always rejoice to find a soldier a Christian, but I always mourn to find a Christian a soldier, for it seems to me that when I take up Christ Jesus, I hear one of His Laws, “I say unto you, resist not evil. Put up your sword into its sheath; he that takes the sword shall perish by the sword.” The followers of Christ in these days seem to me to have forgotten a great part of Christianity.
http://spurgeonwarquotes.wordpress.com/

 

While I like Sprugeon's doctrine for the most part, he was not an American citizen, and would not be interested in what he thought about when the United States of American should or should have not defended itself.