I am Kyle's self-indulgence

Those who oppose war have been put in a difficult position by the recent elections in Iraq. Do we ignore the importance of the democratic process in that country, for the sake of maintaining our opposition to the Bush adminstration's policies; or do we recognize that something good has happened, at the risk of validating what we have opposed all along? As I was listening to NPR on the way to work yesterday, and heard nothing but positive reporting of the Iraqi elections, I came to an important realization: the ends don't justify the means.

It is possible to rejoice in people's freedom, yet detest the actions that led to it. Yes, the election in Iraq was an important event, and I hope it leads to peace. Is it worth the countless (and uncounted) thousands of Iraqi civilian deaths perpetrated by United States invading forces? Does it justify a policy of pre-emptive war? These are difficult questions.

I have an even more essential question, though: Is war the only way to bring about freedom, liberty, and democracy? The pacifist answer is no. It's important that we don't fall into the trap of thinking that we must choose between an Iraq liberated through war, or a dictatorship. Such either/or thinking has been used to justify uncounted wars in the past, and will certainly be used with the present one. There are other options. There are always other options.

"There is no way to peace. Peace is the way." --A.J. Muste

Update:
A fellow name Paul tried to comment, but found that the comments on Brendoman.com were broken, so he e-mailed his response to me. He says:

Yes there are other options -- and not just in theory, but in recent
events.

For example the "People Power" revolution in the Phillipines, which got rid of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People_Power

The events in Indonesia in 1998 that got rid of Suharto.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesian_1998_Revolution

By imposing sanctions on Iraq that weakened the people, not just the military, the Iraqi's were forced to rely on Saddam Hussien for survival and were denied the chance to get strong enough to oust him.

Thanks, Paul. And any time comments are not working, please feel free to e-mail me your thoughts.