THE BLOOD OF THE MARTYRS

The Rev. Dana Prom Smith, S.T.D., Ph.D.

The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church," was the famous line penned by Tertullian, a second century Christian theologian. He claimed quite correctly that the persecution of early Christians by the Roman Imperial authorities spread the message of the gospel. Similarly, stamping out a campfire inevitably spreads the embers, thereby creating a forest fire. The more we try militarily to stamp out the Muslim insurgents in Iraq, the more they will grow. The same thing happened in Vietnam, the more we bombed and killed the Viet Cong, the stronger they became. Paradoxically, the very thing we are trying to destroy by death and destruction is bringing new life to our enemies.

The reason for our prolonged failure is simple. We are trying to win the war of ideas with bullets and bombs which merely serves to strengthen the resolve of our opponents and enemies. The Bush-Cheney-Republican War will in the end make America more vulnerable to world-wide terrorism than protecting us from it.

Our attack upon the Taliban in Afghanistan was on the verge of victory when President Bush, as a self-described war president, attacked Iraq without Congressional authority. He diverted our military resources from the Taliban to Iraq, thus weakening our forces in Afghanistan for the sake of a foolhardy military expedition in Iraq.

The Bush-Cheney-Republicans hoped for a nice, tidy, little, jingoistic war and got us into a quagmire of death and destruction. To mangle Yogi Berra, Iraq is Vietnam deja vu all over again.

Copyright © Dana Prom Smith 2005