Although my feelings about his support for the White Sox are
tongue-in-cheek, I feel a similar way about Leo’s comments on the U.S./Israel
war with Iran: He knows not what he does.
Not that I am surprised. Popes have always sought peaceful
negotiations over war. Regardless of the context. And the truth is, who
wouldn’t prefer peace? You’d have to be completely insane to prefer the hell of
war over peaceful negotiations. I am first in line with that desire.
But where the Pope goes wrong is that it takes two to tango.
And that some issues are too important to compromise on. Important in the sense
that compromise would result in more death and destruction than a war forcing
surrender.
Sure. It sounds good to say that the U.S. and Iran should
negotiate rather than fight a war. But when one side (Iran) has a record of
brutality against its own people, a stated ideological hostility toward Israel
that threatens their very existence, and refuses to halt enrichment of uranium
to weapons-grade levels, that cannot be compromised. It would be like the FBI
making a deal with the Mafia that ends the bloodshed of raids while allowing
them to continue their violent methods of settling internal disputes.
The president was outraged by Pope Leo’s comments
criticizing his war policy on Iran. (As though some acceptable compromise were
realistically possible.) The hard fact is that negotiations are going on right
now. But Iran will surely reject U.S. demands to halt its nuclear weapons
program. When that happens, the war will resume, with the U.S. and Israel
returning to bombing targets inside Iran. Iranian expatriates around the world
support such efforts, having firsthand knowledge of life under that regime. Something
the Pope and many Western leaders do not share.
It’s true that the war is causing worldwide pain, including in the United States. The energy crisis brought about by Iran’s closing of the Strait of Hormuz has driven up prices globally. The U.S. blockade of Iranian shipping has added to that strain. The president has all but acknowledged that prices may remain high through the midterm elections, potentially costing his party control of Congress. Still, he appears to prioritize national security and support for Israel over political consequences…
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