Letter: Plenty of sound reasons for war

Monday, Dec. 12, 2005 | 8:57 a.m.

Cornelius Harrington's Dec. 8 letter asks if Jesus would ever sanction one country's unprovoked attack upon another. No, Jesus wouldn't and no, Jesus did not.

If Mr. Harrington is referring to our attack on Iraq, then his premise of such a war being "unprovoked" is false and a strawman argument. We knew that Hussein had WMDs at one time and that he did use them and would have eventually used them on Israel and the U.S. if given the chance.

Please notice when we read Romans 13:1-7, we will find that God has commissioned government as His own agent to punish evildoers and to protect the citizens. This is what the state is supposed to do.

Yes, war is sanctioned by the Word of God. Read the Old Testament. Besides being called the "Prince of Peace," Jesus is also called "Righteous."

Did you know that Jesus said, "Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword" (Matthew 10:34)? God did not change this in the New Testament.

War is necessary at times to protect civilians from people and nations like Hitler and Nazism, bin Laden and terrorism, and Saddam and his use of chemical weapons on his own people (and sooner or later upon Israel and ourselves).

Does this mean take over the world with your powerful government? Of course not. The U.S. does not do this and it should not do this.

If anything, the U.S. has destroyed enemies of the free world and has helped nations rebuild under a better form of government (as with Germany after World War II and now Iraq). Yet, liberal Democrats will complain about even this!

When will we be thankful, America? I'm thankful to the Lord for the freedom and peace that we have in America today because terrorism is being dealt with. Something the Clinton administration refused to do.

Timothy Carroll

Las Vegas