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The Battle for Fallujah
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| Devotionals: by Rev. Andrew JJ Paton |
Fallujah |
There’s little humor in that statement.
The battle for Fallujah was fierce and costly in human life. The city has about 1000 blocks. Each one had to be taken and cleared. Today I received a set of photographs from a friend in the Marines.
The first picture speaks to those who were concerned that troops entered mosques in pursuit of the enemy. The weapons found inside testify to how those places of worship changed before the Iraqi troops, supported by the international force, stormed in.
Another place sacred to Moslems is the cemetery. Here the photos show weapon stockpiles.
It comes down to this: the terrorists facing our forces in the name of Islam do not even respect the restrictions of their own religion. 60 of the 100 mosques in Fallujah were used as fighting positions or weapons caches.
Unless you are so cynical about our soldiers that you think all of this is a plant, you’d be interested in specific places and dates.
On November 4 at Bediyah Al Samawat Mosque at Ar Ramadi the pictures show stockpiles of shells, mortar rounds, grenades and spools of detonation cord. Many other pictures from other mosques prove the case.
So many of our troops have been killed by Improvised Explosive Devices, but these have also been used on Iraqi police, fire fighters and even on civilians as a means of intimidation.
The pictures I received tour the 9 IED factories hidden in homes.
The excuse terrorists use is that they are not strong enough to face regular armies in the field and must employ undercover tactics. They also justify themselves by claiming that civilians may be killed either because they have tacitly accepted the policies of the forces the terrorists oppose or because they are expendable in the "greater" struggle.
During the battle, on November 11, our troops came upon the infamous National Islamic Resistance Operational Center. A bloody hand print on a column in the torture chamber murmurs grim testimony to crimes within those walls. Let us not dwell on the 4 beheading videos found.
This kind of naked violence doesn’t retreat before UN sanctions. No amount of university-lecture level "tut-tutting" persuades guerillas like these to treat those who oppose their views with respect.
There are times when the balled fist of the bully has to be met with the blows of the civilized.
Pray for the Marines. Victory against terrorists is not the only answer we need. Pray also that these young men be kept from becoming like the enemy.
War is a time for hurt, but it also affords opportunities to give, heal and to educate. Let our nation give generously to Iraqi families.
Give, not to buy their submission. Give, rather to stimulate their industry. No dollar spent on educating the children of Iraq in the values of liberty is a dollar wasted.
In one month the residents of Fallujah crossed from fear and intimidation to law and order. Pictures from November 16 shows 1000 locals receiving food from the Ministry of Trade distributed by the Iraqi police. Giving to their need now will bring us blessing later.
A Bible proverb says: "The generous will prosper. He who refreshes others will himself be refreshed."
Pray that a time will soon come when freedom to trade will be the right of every person in Iraq. At this time we may have to "prime the pump", but when the land is truly free it will be a well of blessing in return.
Not everything though, needs to be a gift. There’s Bible advice that reads: " People curse the man who hoards grain, but blessing crowns him who is willing to sell."