Pray For Peace

“I have to run away. It’s not a place to live in anymore.”
These are the sentiments and feelings expressed by a Muslim woman living in Baghdad. She doesn’t identify herself as being a Shiite or a Sunni for fear of reprisal.
Another person claimed that, “If we got rid of the terrorists, there would be no country better than Iraq.”

Quotes that I read on New Year’s Day 2007. One of my calendars say that today is World Day of Peace. There are many places on earth where we have the exact opposite and with the hanging of Saddam Hussein I can’t help but think of the following in what may be considered or thought to be sarcastic.

Many of Mr. Push’s political advisers thought that the toppling of Haddam Sussein would bring peace and stability to this troubled part of the world. In fact the opposite happened.

What happened? What went wrong? Who devised the game plan?

It’s like the Patriots preparing to play for today’s version of the Oakland Raiders. As the coaching staff prepared for their encounter they focused on taking away only one element. They figured that by doing so the rest of the team would fold making for an easy victory. They figured that by the end of the first quarter at the most the second the game would be wrapped up and they would send in the substitutes to mop up.

They also decided that the victory would come so quick that they didn’t even have to fly the entire team out to California. They even decided to only send half of the equipment out with them.

Initially their plan to open up with a fierce aerial attack and then strike with a ferocious running game seemed to work. The blitzing defense even knocked their starting quarterback out for the remainder of the game. Midway through the second period the score was Patriots 30 - Oakland 2. The 2 points scored by Oakland came on a Trady stumble, tripping over his own player, in his own end zone whereby an Oakland defender landed on him for a safety giving Oakland 2 points.
At half time the game seemed to be all but over. The Patriots decided to send their quarterback home and replaced him with a backup. Inside the home team’s locker room the leaderless Raiders were meeting in various groups and resolving to fight even harder. To a man they decided to fight ‘til the bitter end. They decided that they didn’t want these unwelcome visitors to walk out of their home turf victorious. But they would need help.

They decided to recruit some of their most nasty and loathsome fans to suit up for the second half. They were going to play a la Jack Tatum style, to hurt and maim the opposition. Their fan base went to work instantly. Prior to the start of the second half some fans set up various booby traps along the Patriots sideline. A few even kidnapped two officials stole their uniforms and came out to take their place on the field.

As the Patriots in their red, white and blue uniforms confidently made their way on to the field to start the second half, two players went taken out of commission by a suicide photographer. When he came up to take their picture, his camera unleashed a brilliant light. Both players were stunned and blinded by the light and were deemed improbable to return. The local police, whatever there were of them, found the camera but were unable to capture the fleeting cameraman.

In this strange territory it was very difficult to distinguish the good guys from the bad because they all wore black, even security and the police.

The second half started with the Raiders kicking to the Patriots. The kick returner fielded the kick and followed his wedge of blockers to the 20 yard line where he quickly veered to the right sidelines where he had an open field with only the kicker to beat. The official that was running alongside the Patriot player suddenly tripped and fell in front of him knocking the player down and causing a fumble. Out of nowhere a Raider player appeared picked up the ball and scampered 45 yards for a score. A moment later the score was Patriots 30 Raiders 9.
ROX-TV immediately went to its sideline reporter Karman Ateyan who was interviewing one of the coaches of the Patriots, Ronald Dumsfeld. When asked about the opposition's recent score, Ron answered, “No one said this was going to be easy, we need to stay the course.” “Well what about the lack of equipment?’ asked Karman. “We can only play with what we have,” answered the coach.

All of a sudden in the middle of some manly commercials for such products as Biagra and the Pissan Dentra, Ridaldo Hivera breaks in with a News Bulletin. As Ridaldo’s image fades, the picture of two smiling middle aged men holding hands sitting on a love seat in what appears to be a living room in the Hamaica Spain section of Boston replaces it. Fred and Barney who have been together for fourteen years are happy because they can now legally marry thanks to the newly passed law in Massachusetts. Fred and Barney are so happy to be on TV with Ridaldo that they ask him to be their best man. Unfortunately, probably intentionally, FOX immediately switches to a jubilant picture of people dancing in Provincetown sparing us Ridaldo’s answer.

The very next day, Lush Rimbaugh, on the EVOO Network blames the liberals for passing this law not surprisingly in the home of Senator Ketchup. He blames Farney Brank for the distractions that same sex marriages have on the football game. He invites President Push on his show to tell us for the one hundred and forty first time that, “The opponent hates us, they want to kill us. We must fight over there before they come here.”

ROX finally brings the viewers back to the game. The score is now Patriots 30 Raiders 12. The camera is focused on one of the luxury boxes and at a distance one can see a lot of commotion going on. We see the angry owner of the Patriots, Kob Braft, on the phone and hands flailing. Next to him is a guest who seems to be pounding his fist on a table in front of him a la Kikita Nuschreft. As the camera gets closer I’m astounded to see none other than the VP, Chick Deney who seems to have worked himself up to a lather given the redness of his complexion. As the camera pans to the other luxury boxes, I notice all the people looking out to something down below.

ROX announcer Grian Bumble explains that the Network is not allowed to show the bodies being brought back. I later find out that the incident that took place when the network decided to cover that important news bulletin involved Chick Deney and members of the Braft family.
It seems that while Kob’s wife and son, Kyra and Konathan, were leaning out of the luxury box window pointing out to security one of the infiltrators to the patriot’s sidelines, Chick Deney’s pacemaker misfired causing him to lunge forward and accidentally push both Brafts out the window. Fortunately both suffered only minor injuries thanks to them falling in an area occupied by a group of overweight mullahs wearing black turbans.

Skirmishes were breaking out on various parts of the stadium Section 45 to 50 was in the dark because someone knocked out the power. Whatever little security there was it was now preoccupied on the opposite side of the field tending to the two fallen Brafts. From high above you could see many foreigners crossing the turn styles illegally, adding to the chaos.

At the start of the fourth quarter the Raiders have closed the gap and trail by 9 (30 21). We now find the Patriots trying to get a score with a depleted and tired lineup. It’s fourth and three at the thirty five and the coach calls a time out. He asks the field goal kicker to get ready in case he decides to go for a field goal. Again we are whisked away to a commercial and for the umpteenth time I have to endure that obnoxious Meyton Penning acting like a fool. Doesn’t he make enough money playing football?

When we come back to the game there’s bedlam on the Patriot’s sidelines. Sideline reporter Sony Tiragusa, who appears to have just finished a helping of ribs, is interviewing the ball boy, Gussie. Gussie couldn’t explain why the ball the place-kicker was using for practice exploded. He said that all the balls that he had for the game never left his sight of vision and that no one but him handled the two bag of balls since entering the stadium. The exploding football put the place kicker and two linemen out of commission.

As the officials were trying to restore order chants to the tune of a Miller Light beer commercial were breaking out, only the slogans were different, STAY THE COURSE on one side, MORE PLAYERS on the other. Stay the course, more players, stay the course, more players echoed through the ram shackled stadium. Among the group of people chanting more players was Polin Cowell, who back on day one while in the planning stages warned that if you break it you’ll have to buy it.

Coach B reluctantly sent his punter to try a 44 yd. field goal. With the field in poor condition the punter slipped as he tried to plant his lead foot and missed badly.

The Raiders with an abundant supply of fresh players came back to score two more field goals and have narrowed the lead to Patriots 30, Raiders 27.

Enough of the sarcasm and back to some reality. We start 2007 still debating and trying to decide what course of action to take. No one seems willing to give up the game (fight). I don’t know who or what to believe in at times. I know we’re shown a lot of the bad that is taking place, destruction, loss of lives, unrest, civil war and some of the good that’s been done.

There are a ton of smarter men than me and I hope that they see the light. No one wins in war - we all lose. All I can do is pray that the stubbornness that persists to inflict violence is channeled to a dialogue across a table to see if there can be at least a cease fire. I don’t see where by adding 20 to 30 thousand more troops in the area is going to solve anything. It’s only adding the potential for 20 to 30 thousand more people in harms way.

I don’t think that any side can ever declare a victory. What do the powers to be consider a victory?

Please pray for peace.