The elusive peace
Forty years after Pope John XXIII addressed the theme of peace in his encyclical Pacem in terris, the world continues its pursuit for global harmony. Pope John Paul II’s message to the International Meeting of Prayer for Peace in Aachen, Germany, emphasises just how elusive that goal remains.
Pope John Paul rightly rebukes those who instead of searching for peace, have taken “the path of development of special interests, wasting enormous riches in other ways above all for military expenses.”
In his message, the pope did not mention the United States, or the invasion of Iraq. He did not need to, for his objection to the invasion was as unambiguous as it was wise.
The pope, like many of those who opposed the US-led invasion of Iraq, does not require the benefit of hindsight to know that the motives for the war were argued on a false premise, which in turn was laced with exaggerations and plain falsehoods.
It is fair to presume that the US administration featured in the pope’s mind, though not exclusively, when he referred to “special interests” and the wastage of military spending.
It is evident that the US invaded Iraq, against the mandate of the United Nations, without having a coherent plan beyond the military dimensions of occupation.
Iraq’s infrastructure now is in a worse state than it was before the war, and anarchy and crime hold sway. Meanwhile, Iraq has become a hotbed of terrorism, and an entire region has been further destabilised. Iraqis arguably are not better off now than they were under Saddam Hussein.
The anti-war lobby, including the Catholic Church, warned that an invasion of Iraq would produce such circumstances. These warnings were ignored because, simply put, the prospect of not invading Iraq was not commensurate with the self-interests of the Bush administration.
Peace campaigners rightly question why the United States would have chosen to spend several billion dollars a day on its occupation of Iraq, when far more grievous calamities were taking place elsewhere in the world. Africa especially is afflicted by brutal conflicts, in Liberia, Congo, Sudan, northern Uganda and elsewhere. The world community takes scant notice.
It is a credit to the Catholic Church that it has inspired a movement such as the Sant’Egidio Community, which not only prays for peace (which in itself is most laudable), but actively works towards peaceful solutions. The people of Southern Africa will doubtlessly feel great gratitude towards Sant’Egidio for its mediation in bringing a close to the brutal civil war in Mozambique.
Pope John Paul is right when he attributes the proliferation of conflicts to the reckless pursuit of self-interest, and on injustice and inequality throughout the world.
Peace can be become a reality only when the collective international conscience is stirred as much by the genocidal holocausts in Africa, Asia and South America as it was by the illegitimate invasion of Iraq.
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