A Peace Mediator for Africa

"Republic of Congo President Denis Sassou-Nguesso launched his role as a top African peace mediator on Sunday, meeting with the prime minister of civil war-divided Ivory Coast days after taking over as African Union head," reports the AP.

Link: http://www.happynews.com/news/1292006/congo-president-holds-first-peace-meeting.htm

Front Line Dilemma

"Christians in intelligence services are conflicted over the use of torture," reports Christianity Today: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2006/002/25.38.html

Extended Duty

"The U.S. Army has forced about 50,000 soldiers to continue serving after their voluntary stints ended under a policy called 'stop-loss,' but while some dispute its fairness, court challenges have fallen flat," reports Reuters.

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=newsOne&storyID=2006-01-29T151015Z_01_N196487_RTRUKOC_0_US-IRAQ-USA-STOPLOSS.xml

Supporting U.S. Troops

Fisher House "provides free or low-cost housing at or near military and Veterans’ hospitals so that the relatives of servicemen wounded in the Iraq War can be near them during their treatment and rehabilitation," reports Veterans for Common Sense: http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/index.cfm?Page=Article&ID=6187

Post Traumatic Stress...

An Iraq war veteran's story of post traumatic stress syndrome is at

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/01/29/MNGMHGVCEV1.DTL

Why Torture is Always Wrong


Christianity Today lists five reasons why torture is always wrong:

1. Torture violates the dignity of the human being.

2. Torture mistreats the vulnerable and violates the demands of justice.

3. Authorizing torture trusts government too much.

4. Torture dehumanizes the torturer.

5. Torture erodes the character of the nation that tortures.

For the entire article, click here: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2006/002/23.32.html

"Weak" Religious Opposition to Iraq War

CNN reports, "Some U.S. religious leaders are stepping up pressure on Washington to end the nearly 3-year-old Iraq war. But the influence of those who oppose the conflict has been weak so far and the faith community, like U.S. public opinion, is divided."

Link: http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/01/25/churches.iraq.reut/

The Iraq War and Christian Moral Doctrine

Many evangelical Americans initially rallied around the war in Iraq. But a New York Times op-ed contributor, a religion professor, believes that evangelical preachers paid little attention to "actual Christian moral doctrine. Some tried to square the American invasion with Christian 'just war' theory, but such efforts could never quite reckon with the criterion that force must only be used as a last resort," writes Charles Marsh. "As a result, many ministers dismissed the theory as no longer relevant."

Hat Tip: World Magazine's blog

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/20/opinion/20marsh.html?incamp=article_popular_5

A Moral Duty to Disobey?

Get Religion explores a citizen's right to disobey unjust laws and includes the following quote from Martin Luther King Jr:

"[A just law] squares with the moral law of the law of God. An unjust law . . . is out of harmony with the moral law.”

Although the article is geared toward civilians, military personnel will find it interesting in the context of the possibility of disobeying a direct order which they feel is unjust or unethical: http://www.getreligion.org/

A Hero Scorned

"When courageous people instinctively supply the moral compass missing higher up in their command they deserve recognition."

A USA Today journalist writes, "In 1968, helicopter pilot Hugh Thompson ... discovered that a massacre was going on — of women, children and elderly men at the hands of U.S. soldiers. Horrified, he landed his helicopter between the soldiers and the civilians, ordered his crew to fire on any American who continued shooting, called for back-up and rescued victims, digging through corpses to scoop up one child. An instant hero? It would be nice to think so.... [but] he was made a pariah.

"For years, when he walked into officers' clubs, they emptied out. He got threatening phone messages...

"In 1998... the Pentagon was shamed into giving him and his crew the Soldier's Medal, the highest award for bravery not involving conflict with an enemy... What Thompson really deserved, and never got, is the hero's recognition afforded other national icons of moral courage, such as Rosa Parks... when courageous people instinctively supply the moral compass missing higher up in their command — as Thompson did at My Lai...they deserve recognition."

Link:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2006-01-12-thompson-edit_x.htm

War in Decline?

"War has entered a cycle of decline. Combat in Iraq and in a few other places is an exception to a significant global trend that has gone nearly unnoticed--namely that, for about 15 years, there have been steadily fewer armed conflicts worldwide. In fact, it is possible that a person's chance of dying because of war has, in the last decade or more, become the lowest in human history," states a New Republic journalist.

"...How can war be in such decline when evening newscasts are filled with images of carnage? One reason fighting seems to be everywhere is that, with the ubiquity of 24-hour cable news and the Internet, we see many more images of conflict than before...Actually, it is the reporting of the problems that is increasing, while the problems themselves are in decline. Television, especially, likes to emphasize war because pictures of fighting, soldiers, and military hardware are inherently more compelling to viewers than images of, say, water-purification projects. Reports of violence and destruction are rarely balanced with reports about the overwhelming majority of the Earth's population not being harmed."

Link: http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=20050530&s=easterbrook053005

"Religious Impulse" in Post-Soviet Russian Military

"... the collapse of the Soviet regime in 1991 unleashed a long-underground religious impulse even among the elite of Soviet society, 'rocket scientists' and the military hierarchy.

"Senior military officers ...began to come out of the closet on the issue of respect for the long-suppressed Russian church. Writing in a just-published armed forces commemorative chronicle of 50 years of rocket launches at Baikonur, space program veteran Major General Anatoliy Zavalishin observed that 'in the opinion of many people, in Russia there stand only two really active forces that are close to the common people — these are the army and the church.' " (Link via http://merecomments.typepad.com/ )

Links: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10729300/

Russian Military Christian Union: http://www.rmcu.ru/

Iraqi Baby's Surgery Went Well

"An operation for Baby Noor, a 3-month-old Iraqi baby with a rare and severe form of the birth defect spina bifida, went 'very well,' says the doctor who led the operation...Noor was spotted by soldiers of the Georgia Army National Guard's 48th Brigade during a raid on a Baghdad home in early December. She was airlifted to Atlanta for lifesaving surgery, accompanied by family members."

Link: http://www.webmd.com/content/article/117/112491.htm

Theme: Ethics

My Lai Hero Dies

"Hugh Thompson Jr., a former Army helicopter pilot honored for rescuing Vietnamese civilians from his fellow GIs during the My Lai massacre, died early Friday. He was 62," reports CBS News.

In1968 Thompson and 2 other soldiers discovered U.S. troops killing Vietnamese civilians in the village of My Lai. Thompson "landed the helicopter in the line of fire between American troops and fleeing Vietnamese civilians and pointed their own guns at the U.S. soldiers to prevent more killings...Thompson later coaxed civilians out of a bunker so they could be evacuated..."

Initially Thompson was reviled for his actions -- one congressman even claimed that only Thompson himself should be punished because of My Lai. But as time passed his actions became an example for U.S. soldiers and he was often asked to speak at service academies. Col. Tom Kolditz, head of the U.S. Military Academy's behavioral sciences and leadership department, stated, "There are so many people today walking around alive because of him, not only in Vietnam, but people who kept their units under control under other circumstances because they had heard his story. We may never know just how many lives he saved."

Links:

CBS obituary: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/01/06/national/main1185502.shtml?CMP=ILC-SearchStories

HIS OWN WORDS: Thompson's own account of My Lai: http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/mylai/Myl_hero.html#HUGH%20THOMPSON

INTERVIEW: A 1998 interview with Thompson:
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/guides/debate/chats/thompson/

BOOK: Suggested Reading: "The Forgotten Hero of My Lai":
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0925417335/002-9567627-4865608?v=glance&n=283155

PHOTOS: Vietnam photo essay, including My Lai photos: http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/vietnam/photoessay.htm

Chaplain Ends Fast

"A Navy chaplain ended an 18-day fast outside the White House yesterday, proclaiming victory in his bid to use Jesus' name when praying in public...The Navy maintains that chaplains are allowed to pray in the name of all deities -- including Jesus Christ -- during chapel services. However, at other public events, sensitivity to the needs of all those present is encouraged and chaplains may decline an invitation to pray if not able to do so for conscience reasons."

Link: http://washingtontimes.com/metro/20060107-110200-1250r.htm

Friday Humor:

You Know You've been in Iraq too long when...

When mortars land near your compound and you roll over in bed and think "still way off, I got another 5 minutes"

When you start humming with the Arabic song playing on the radio on the shuttle bus

You actually volunteer for convoy security duty because you still haven't seen the country yet

You start picturing your wife in traditional Arab dress

You drink the water from the tap because you want to drop 20 pounds in two weeks

When you can actually talk to people in the United States on a cell phone, yet you can't get people on their cell phone a block away

When you actually spend more time writing e-mail about the dog in the compound versus how to conduct the fight in Najaf

You see celebratory fire going over the compound at night and think, "wow the colors are so pretty" and want to fire back

The temp drops down to 102 degrees and you shiver while reaching for your Gortex jacket

When you call home and your kids ask "Who is this?"

When 12 hours is a short work day

When you can actually tell the difference between the sound of an exploding car and an exploding mortar

When on R&R you go to Church and wonder why no one is wearing body armor or carrying an automatic weapon to the service

You see an indirect fire attack take out an air conditioner and your vigor to fight is renewed

You know that you need to run inside immediately after any win of an Iraqi sports team to keep from being hit by celebratory fire

You make a contest out of seeing who can wear their uniform for more days before becoming entirely disgusted with themselves

A rocket or a mortar really isn't a big deal until the crater it leaves is big enough to trip over in the dark on the way to the latrine

You go to a social gathering and intermittent gun fire or explosions don't even cause a pause in the conversation

(Jokes from strategypage.com's humor section)

Sailor's Christmas Gift: His Kidney

U.S. navy petty officer 2nd class Mark Greshan, 23, gave his foster mother an unusual Christmas gift: his kidney.

Greshan was cared for by his foster mom, Phyllis Klingebiel, from the time he was 7 years old. When he learned she needed a transplant, he called her up and said, "I have a Christmas gift for you..The bad news is that it's going to be early. The good news is that you're going to get my kidney.''' Both Greshan and Klingebiel are now recovering from the surgery.

Over the past 30 years, Phyllis Klingebiel and her husband have cared for 67 foster children.

Link: http://www.happynews.com/news/12262005/sailor-donates-kidney-to-foster-mother.htm

Navy Refutes Chaplain's Claim

"A Navy spokesman and fellow Navy clergyman strongly disagree with contentions made by a chaplain who is in the 17th day of a hunger strike protesting what he says is a prohibition on praying in Jesus' name by service-affiliated pastors in public," reports worldnetdaily.com.

Virtue Online claims that, among other reasons, Chaplain Klingenshmitt was reprimanded for preaching Christ at a memorial service for a Christian sailor. The chaplain's CO, Capt. Carr, reportedly told him that the memorial service "should honor the faith of those attending the service, not the faith of the deceased. "

" 'Preaching a negative or exclusive message will eventually get you fired,' Carr informed Klingenshmitt. 'Do you really have to preach all that "born again" stuff in your sermons?' "
The chaplain was forced to attend mandatory counseling because of his words at the memorial service.

Links: http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48205
http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=3457

Military-Related Reading

"Filling Your Spiritual Reservoir" is available in Christian Military Fellowship's January newsletter:
http://www.cmfhq.org/Christian%20Report/Christian%20Report.htm

An article about the daily lives of military spouses is available from Officers' Christian Fellowship: http://ocf.gospelcom.net/pubs/routine_day.php

Soldiers Help Sick Iraqi Baby

An Iraqi baby, born with a life-threatening disease, is being given a second shot at life due to some U.S. National Guardsmen who arranged for her to get medical help in the U.S. The Guardsmen learned about the baby when they searched her parents' home, looking for weapons. "As Noor's parents nervously watched the soldiers searching their home, the girl's grandmother -- unfazed -- thrust Noor at the Americans, showing them a purple pouch protruding from her back," reports CNN.

" 'I saw this child as the first-born child of the young mother and father, and really, all I could think of was my five children back at home and my young daughter,' Lt. Jeff Morgan said. 'And I knew if I had the opportunity whatsoever to save my daughter's life, I would do everything possible.' "

Links: http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/12/31/baby.noor/index.html

http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/news/stories/20060105/opinion/54579.shtml

Who Will Save the Child Soldiers?

"...the world stands silent in the face of another holocaust," reports Christianity Today. "The perpetrators commit atrocities with such malevolence that even the most irreligious people familiar with their acts describe them as 'unrestrained evil.' "

"The targets of the butchery are children. They rape, mutilate, and kill them with a rapaciousness that staggers the imagination. Worse, they compel children to kill one another and their own families, fighting as 'soldiers' in an armed force deliberately composed of children."

Link: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2006/001/18.30.html

A New Year's Prayer

May God make your year a blessed one!

Not by shielding you from all sorrows and pain, but by strengthening you to bear it, as it comes;

Not by making your path easy, but by making you sturdy to travel any path;

Not by taking hardships from you, but by taking fear from your heart;

Not by granting you unbroken sunshine, but by keeping your face bright, even in the shadows;

Not by making your life always pleasant, but by showing you when people and their causes need you most, and by making you anxious to be there to help.

(Author Unknown)