Many Americans don’t understand the mindset of the enemy that lives in the shadows of Iraq. They should take the time to try and fathom that enemy, because Tom Fox, of the Christian Peacemakers didn’t, and it got him tortured and killed.
Fox’s body was found near a railway line in Dawoudi, a mixed Sunni-Shiite area that has been largely shielded from violence. Shocked local residents on Saturday condemned Fox’s abduction and killing.
“These acts are terrorist ones and will hinder the political process and distort the reputation of Iraq,” said Dhamir al-Samaraie, who had come to see where Fox was found.
The previously unknown Swords of Righteousness Brigades claimed responsibility for kidnapping the four Christian Peacemaker Teams members, who disappeared Nov. 26.
The Christian Peacemakers web site has as its tagline the following question: “What would happen if Christians devoted the same discipline and self-sacrifice to nonviolent peacemaking that armies devote to war?” Well, now you know the answer: you’ll be tortured and murdered for being well-intentioned but misguided. Martyrs don’t get to hang around to find out who wins and they don’t get to continue spreading their messages after they are dead. They’re just not here anymore. Whether or not they move on to an eternal reward is fairly irrelevant to those of us who want to continue living on Earth for the time being.
It’s ironic that I just ended an essay contest with the title Why Am I Here? while in nearly the same time frame, Tom Fox was writing about why he was here.
As I survey the landscape here in Iraq, dehumanization seems to be the operative means of relating to each other. U.S. forces in their quest to hunt down and kill “terrorists” are, as a result of this dehumanizing word, not only killing “terrorists,” but also killing innocent Iraqis: men, women and children in the various towns and villages.
It seems as if the first step down the road to violence is taken when I dehumanize a person. That violence might stay within my thoughts or find its way into the outer world and become expressed verbally, psychologically, structurally or physically. As soon as I rob a fellow human being of his or her humanity by sticking a dehumanizing label on them, I begin the process
that can have, as an end result, torture, injury and death.
Well, the end result was torture, injury and death, but it was you that got dehumanized by the enemy, Tom. It wasn’t U.S. troops who dehumanized you. It was evil Iraqis with the same mindset that has existed in this part of the world for a millenium, a mindset that isn’t compatible with modern notions about human dignity and the value of an individual human being. The same mindset is responsible for the lack of progress in building infrastructure and bringing Iraqis basic services. The same mindset is what forces U.S. troops to suspect everybody and “dehumanize” Iraqis. This is war, and it continues because of the mindset of fundamentalists who are theologically motivated, not because American soldiers like fighting and killing. Generally speaking, most of us would rather be at home enjoying whatever it is we love about being American.
To the Christian Peacemakers, I would say – you are misguided. Iraq does not produce the kind of enemies Ghandi fought. Ghandi’s non-violence worked because his enemies had a conscience. His enemies believed in human dignity and fairness. The insurgency in Iraq doesn’t give a shit about those things, to be quite frank. These are people who will sell their own mother to the devil if they think it will get them something they covet in return.
Tom Fox died horribly because he cared too much, but he also died because his thought processes and conclusions were flawed. Tom saw the U.S. military as “oppressers” but died at the hands of evil men living among those people he wanted to help. If Tom’s life and death serve as a lesson to me, it is to reinforce my own belief in my right to self-defense.
Initiated by Mennonites, Brethren and Quakers with broad ecumenical participation, CPT’s ministry of Biblically-based and spiritually-centered peacemaking emphasizes creative public witness, nonviolent direct action and protection of human rights.
You cannot protect human rights with the mere force of your convictions. This lesson has been proved over and over again throughout history. Anyone who thinks otherwise should note that Tom Fox was merely one of 100 million or more human beings murdered by their fellow human beings in the last 100 years. A self-defense centered lifestyle and worldview seem to me to be much more effective than the sort of outlook espoused by Mr. Fox.
If someone from Christian Peacemakers could point out even one major world conflict they have successfully stopped by practicing non-violent “getting in the way” as their web site says they do, then I would reconsider. But none of them will be able to do that because non-violence as a response to violence isn’t a viable survival mechanism. I wonder if Mr. Fox changed his mind as he was being tortured or as that final bullet entered his body.