Held Hostage

In the news today, the Canadian and British hostages being held in Iraq since November 2005 have been released. This is good news but brings up some questions about the war torn country.

I am not here to express whether I approve of the US being in Iraq. I have decided to remain neutral on the subject as neither pro or anti war side is right or wrong. I am here to look at stupidity.

I know little about the Christian Peacemakers. They seem to be a passivist group made up of mennonites and quakers. I am not here to judge their work, but rather why they are there in the first place. A lot of people seem to misunderstand the actual danger during a war. They may strongly believe in the peaceful teachings of Christ and Ghandi but a masked guerrilla with an AK-47 may have something different to say. The ideology behind Islamic extemism is not anti-US , it is not anti-West or anti-East. They feel that all non-Muslims are painted with the same brush. They all feel that every person that comes in who is not Islamic is the devil. Thus those silly enough to venture into these areas unarmed and unescorted find themselves kidnapped. The world is unfortnately not a peachy keen place. Is is simply wise for these people to stay out and find other places to help.