SENTINEL WATCH May 31, 2004 Issue

What does God know about Iraq?

By J. Thomas Black

The situation in Iraq is giving many people pause. Some media reports indicate that large numbers in many countries feel anguished over or helpless to influence the war, and as result they feel fatalistic about it or try to ignore it. A friend said to me yesterday, "I'm not sure I know what to think. It seems to just go on and get more complicated."

Reasonable people agree war is an evil. Under some awful circumstances, it may be the least of many evils. But it still is horrendous testimony to the inability of human beings to resolve conflicts rationally and patiently. The longer wars grind on, the more human nature instinctively yearns and searches for a solution.

I find it important to remind myself that there always is a solution. Always. Regardless of the present intractability of the parties involved, it can be solved in an instant—though experience indicates time often is required for motives and aims to modify to the point of a workable compromise. But in no case are solutions absent or unattainable.