These people who think that simply by hugging and loving ISIS we’ll be able to solve the world’s conflict problems just haven’t been paying attention. Do they not see the images of children who’ve been beheaded or cut in half? Slaughtered for no reason other than a different belief system. I’m sure hugs would have turned that whole situation around. NOT!
Take a look, especially at the 2:00 and 2:43 marks.
What these huggie types don’t seem to understand is that this feud has been brewing for over 2000 years and makes the Hatfield and McCoy’s look like a Sunday afternoon tea party. This is a deep-seated, cultural hatred that has been passed down for generations and it isn’t going away anytime soon. No amount of huggin’ and lovin’ is going to fix that.
Now we have an entire coalition suggesting that we just need to us peaceable options with radicals intent on annihilating anyone different from themselves. Religious and academic groups, 53 in all, have written to President Obama urging for non-military measures such as:
- Parallel institutions (What does that even mean?)
- Dispersed disruptions (That doesn’t sound like peace to me!)
- Bring in and significantly invest in professionally trained unarmed civilian protection organizations to assist and offer some buffer for displaced persons and refugees (So let me get this straight… we’re going to put unarmed civilians in the middle of a war zone to act as a buffer between civilians and the armed militants who are beheading them? Can you say lamb-to-the-slaughter?)
- Work with Russia? (Yes, they suggested working with Russia! Apparently, they don’t get the AP in these religious and academic groups, otherwise they’d know Russia was conducting it’s own military land grabs!)
- Ensure Iran’s full participation in the process to arrive at a peace settlement with Syria. (I’m not sure how they plan to “ensure” cooperation.)
You can read the full letter here.
Neither Israel nor Palestine were even mentioned. The cease-fire violation was not mentioned either, nor how to handle one if it occurs. Nothing in the document suggests that a country has a right to protect itself. Utopia is a great place to live… but it doesn’t exist. I know these folks have their hearts in the right place, but realism doesn’t live in the heart, and these realities are harsh.
Their desire is to “resolve the conflict”. A noble pursuit to be sure. But it something that can be done by one side. Both side have to be willing to come to the table and discuss. When one side refuses to discuss options, that removes much negotiation from the table, and ultimately limits the options available. Should we just peaceably wait until they’ve finished their path of destruction (if that ever happens) and hope they’ll come to the table then? All the while watching more senseless killings in the name of their god?
It’s hard for rational humans to grasp the irrational actions of radical believers who practice something so perverse as killing innocents in order to honor and please their deity. But that’s what they’re doing. And how, exactly, do you propose to trump their deity? Because the chances of them being willing to negotiate with you to give up something that brings them honor in the afterlife is slim-to-none.
This is so much bigger than most people can grasp. This isn’t a land feud. It’s a Holy War.
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Photo credit Stephen Melkisethian
