Liberation Is More Than A Military Victory, It Is A State of Mind
- © Michele Toomey, PhD • April 27, 2004

Prisoners of German concentration camps attest to preserving their sanity by remaining free within their mind and soul. When they were actually liberated from the camps they were physically liberated, but they were on their own to psychologically liberate themselves.

Our mentality as a powerful country with the ability to go to war in Iraq and capture Saddam Hussein, falsely assumes that we can liberate Iraq. Certainly the anti-American activity and violence there speaks another message. We have to capture the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people to warrant our posturing as liberators. We are currently more accurately described as occupiers. Our presence has created as much danger as we have eliminated.

Now that we have invaded Iraq and are in this mess, we had better learn how to actually liberate the Iraqis. Occupation will never work. All the reconstruction in the world will never achieve our supposed goal. Remember, liberation is a state of mind. Fearing for your life and your future does not set the stage for appreciation of your supposed liberators. Not being able to stop the insurgents and terrorists from destabilizing and destroying and killing does not assure anyone that we are able to provide them with the stability that freedom to choose requires.

Rather than sending more troops, why don't we send more diplomats and ambassadors of peace. Winning the hearts and minds of the Iraqis will never be realized with guns and bombs.

Israel is proof that killing and destroying the enemy does not win hearts and minds, and certainly does not bring peace or liberation. It only brings more killings and destruction. Blowing up another stronghold, another mosque, another building to gain control only leaves another stronghold, another mosque, another building to blow up. It is endless and relentless. How many lives must be lost before we declare a truce and a turnabout?

What will it take for us to learn from that failure and choose an alternative route? Why not go to Iraq as fellow journeyers and fellow citizens of the world. Let us begin to work side by side with them to provide the model and the climate for liberation.

Now that Saddam is captured, we need to ask what and who are we liberating the Iraqi's from and how are we doing that? It would seem neither the Iraqis nor we know who the enemy is and what hold they have on Iraq's destiny.

I believe hatred is the enemy and it is rampant in Iraq. If we are to be liberators we had better go after the real enemy, hate. Not with guns and bombs but with an overpowering influx of goods and services, of kindness and generosity, of educational opportunities and interpersonal connections. Freeing Iraq from Saddam Hussein was simple compared to the task of freeing Iraq from hatred. That will take years of exposure to fairness, kindness, generosity, and an intolerance for the violence and abuse that is the by product of hatred. War will never eliminate hatred, it fuels it. Let us work to bring about a liberation of the spirit and the mind by freeing them of the need to fear and hate. Then, and only then, will we be liberators. The real question is, do we have the vision and the courage to truly liberate or are we stuck in the macho role of a super power who will prove our might by conquering to liberate?

In my opinion, we will never win that war and certainly will never truly liberate anyone. Dying for what we believe in takes an ugly turn when our belief is based on false information. Hatred feeds on war. We are at war with the "Axis of evil". We are breeding and feeding hate. We all need to cry out with one voice, "STOP IT!" We can't get there from here.