Jesus was the first one on the list. <s> What the writers of the bible were trying to convey about the character of Jesus at that point is open to discussion; for sure, they meant to convey he was capable of righteous indignation. <g>

If our country cared about stability in Irag, we would have the 400K troops there that the (successful) administrator of Kosovo predicted would be needed, in a report requested by, and presented to, the administration prior to the Iraq Invasion. I, and every Quaker I know, wants to protect our troops. That's not an issue. And we want the Iraqi people to be protected. But trying to do it "on the cheap" as this war has been done is wrong. We haven't protected our troops with proper equipment (body armor; armored trucks; etc) or training (for what is essentially a community policing action) or numbers (community policing takes a constant presence, not forays into neighborhoods), or community-building resources (the redevelopment authority dispersed about 10% of its funds available in the first year, refusing to make it available to commanders on the group for community projects); and we haven't protected the innocent Iraqis (imagine keeping your child in your house all day every day of the year, because its too dangerous for them to be outside). Don't get me going on that one. <s>

peace,

Hank

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>You left out Jesus. He was not necessarily a pacifist though. He did throw the money changers out of the temple. However, I agree these have made major contributions, but only in their place, in their time. Countries cannot be protected by people who will not fight, as noted in your assertion of the Quakers. I'm not a war monger, I would much rather see our resources spent to help our own people and people of other countries to do better. The reality though, is there is evil in the world and not every country comes from such an altruistic perspective. When evil forces start abusing other citizens, and when they attack us, it is time to respond.
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>This war is not a lot of fun, but we are there, we went in after bi-partisan debate and now we must finish the job or else we risk destabilizing the middle-east even more. I've got a son-in-law heading to Iraq next month and I'd rather he were home with my daughter and their three kids, but there is a job to be done and he is a soldier (a sniper by the way). Just as all those years when I was a cop, when duty calls - you answer the bell.