Over the span of 5 days, I was in Iraq; Kuwait City, Kuwait; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Djibouti, and finally arrived at Sana’a, Yemen. Traveling like this has allowed me to see many different cultures in a very short amount of time. I also had a chance to read many different newspapers and to watch news from a variety of sources including an English version of Al Jazerra.

One of the most easily recognized differences is the dress. Throughout my travels, I saw everything from the most conservative dress, the Burqa, to some of the most revealing outfits designed, being worn in the same public spaces. The differences appeared to blend into a fabric of multicultural dress and seemed to be at peace with each other. Just a comment about the conservative dress that many of the women wear in the middle east; I do not find it as offensive as much of what I see in Europe and the US. I do not think the modest female is such a bad thing when compared to other extreme, of people like many of the glamour girls who wear very short skirts and do not seem to care about underwear. The conservative dress can be criticized for preventing a woman from expressing herself, but in this culture that is not always something that is desired. I was performing an echocardiogram on a Yemeni girl of 12. She felt great shame for having a man see her even partially uncovered. One thing is for sure, there is less temptation for men, as opposed to much of the west where hardly anything is left to the imagination. But enough of the dress, I was much more interested in what I read in the Kuwaiti Newspaper. There was a long article on how Kuwait and Saudi Arabia were working with the Iranian government to discuss how to bring Iran into a modern approach to Islam and not to continue to follow a traditional old fashioned view, which included violence and suicide bombers.

My next stop was Dubai, the headline on their English Newspaper there was, “US plans to attack Iran by the spring.” Dubai is an interesting place because they are all about making money and consumerism. UAE have the best hotels, biggest Mall, largest indoor ski-slope, and have made islands shaped like the globe and a Palm Tree to increase waterfront property. Their airport is a living entity at all hours of the night and prides itself on having the most duty free shopping of any airport in the world. Kuwait, Bahrain, and UAE share many similarities, the two most striking are incredible wealth and a relative peace compared to their neighbors. Iraq has more oil, better land, and currently a huge military presence, but very little signs of wealth or peace. So what is the difference? I see two separate problems with Iraq right now. Sectarian violence that took off 1 year ago after the bombing of the third holiest Shiite shrine in Samarra likely by Sunni’s and maybe more importantly, Iran destabilizing the area by sending in militants and weapons. In the Middle East there seems to be a choice that is separating the governments: Material wealth vs radical Muslim beliefs. I am not a great fan of absurd material wealth, but it is definitely easier to travel through a nation that wants your money rather than your neck.

I bring this up in the context of the US Congress wanting us out of Iraq regardless what the security situation is like. It reminds me of other great conflicts where the people lost heart in the midst of a battle. It started with Israel not finishing the job God had given them to clear out the land before them after crossing the Jordan, instead to this day they still live with enemies surrounding them. Others include: World War I and Germany returning just a few years later to fight again; World War II and Russia, that Patton wanted to finish, but instead we had years of Cold War; Korean War, now with North Korea; Iran taking our Hostages and Carter’s ineffectiveness; and Desert Storm and not finishing Saddam at that time. There is a long history of paying a costly price for losing heart in the middle of a battle.

A big division is occurring in the world. With rare exception, the world does not want to follow the US they want the UN to lead. It is globalism vs nationalism. Bette Middler said the hardest thing about being successful is finding someone who is genuinely happy for you. The US is suffering from the same attitude around the world, like a little kid the world is saying “you aren’t the boss of me”. But who will be the moral leader if not the US. The UN has shown itself to be all talk and little action even when millions are dying in Sudan.

Recently there have been bombs in Pakistan, India, and Malaysia, we are not there, still suicide attacks continue everywhere. The time we are in is historic, ideologies are at war and it is not for the faint of heart. God told Joshua after he had already promised the land to the Israelites, “Be strong and courageous, for you will distribute the land I swore to your fathers to give them as an inheritance”. Joshua 1:6 Interestingly, God didn’t say it was going to be easy. He said that Joshua and Israel as a nation were going to need to be committed to the path God was sending them on. The President said to us as we started the global war on terror that it was going to be long and difficult. The US public is losing heart, and their strength and courage they displayed immediately after 9/11 is waning. If this strategy of Iran’s is successful, it will continue beyond the cradle, and I have no doubt violence and death will once again hit our homeland. Many don’t remember how horrible it was to hear every night on the news, how many days Iran had been holding the hostages at the US Embassy. Can we afford to allow Iran off the hook again, as it wages a secret war against the US disguised as an insurgency?

I am currently in a nation that has an official state religion, which is not very friendly to other beliefs. The clerics that are pushing much of the efforts to destabilize Iraq, have said they will not be satisfied until there is an Islamic flag over every nation. Joshua found the people of Israel at a crossroads as well and gave this challenge. “Therefore, fear the Lord and worship Him in sincerity and truth. Get rid of the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River [Iraq] and in Egypt and worship the Lord. But if it doesn’t please you to worship the Lord, choose for yourselves today the one you will worship; the gods your fathers worshiped beyond the Euphrates River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. As for me and my family, we will worship the Lord.” Joshua 24: 14-15

Solis Deo Gloria

More thoughts to come