No peace on Earth during unjust war

The war in Iraq tarnishes the moral authority of the Christians who preach in support of it.

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I was pleasantly surprised to see this scathing editorial by Father Andrew Greeley in the Chicago Sun Times. Entitled No peace on Earth during unjust war , it is a vigorous condemnation not only of the Iraq war, the architects of that war but also of the supporters of the war.

He goes so far as to label the Bush administration war criminals, a label I would concur with. He calls for their indictment for their crimes. I have thought about petitioning the World Court in The Hague to bring charges of war crimes against Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, White House Counsel and Nominee for Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez and President George W. Bush. This may yet become a major project for me.

But Father Greeley rightly reserves some of his harshest criticism for those who voted in support of this atrocity. He writes what I have observed: Iraqi deaths don't trouble many Americans. We are complict in the murder of tens of thousands of civilians: women, elderly, children. He concludes with:

This time of the year we celebrate ''peace on Earth to men of good will.'' Americans must face the fact that they can no longer claim to be men and women of good will, not as long as they support an unnecessary, foolish, ill-conceived, badly executed and, finally, unwinnable war. If most people in other countries blame the war on Americans, we earned that blame in the November election...

I am ashamed of our government and disgusted by the 50.7% (Did you know that in the final vote tallies Bush's popular vote had dropped that low?) of the electorate that put a war criminal in office. It is good to see that some in the clergy agree and recognize the monster in office for what he is.