1st May, 2003
There will be no quick-fix in Iraq. Now that the dust has settled on the war, DAVID ADAMS believes that Christians need to be at the forefront of those looking to the long-term - and eternal - future of a war-torn land...

In Iraq, a young girl, her face covered with blood and grime, cries for the mother she lost when a bomb tore through a marketplace.

On the other side of the world, in North Carolina, a young wife mourns the death of her husband - a 31-year-old marine sergeant - and comforts the young boy and the month-old twins he has left behind.

Once again the world bears witness to the tragedies of war and its aftermath.

While the debate - among Christians as well as non-Christians, among those in the Western world and those in the Islamic world - still rages over whether or not the United States-led invasion of Iraq was justified and is likely to for some time to come, it is to the humanitarian crisis, the damage to individual lives - whether they be civilians or soldiers, Iraqis, Americans, Britons or Australians - and ultimately to the salvation of those who don’t yet know Jesus that we as Christians must be united in praying about.

Even before scenes showing euphoric Iraqis tearing down statues of their former malignant leader were broadcast, calculations of the size of the humanitarian crisis were being made.

The World Health Organisation, for one, were warning that as many as a million children aged under five in Iraq are chronically malnourished. They believed that millions more people face illness and even death if much needed water supplies, food and medical aid are not delivered.

Now is the time for Christians around the world to stand up and be counted. In practical areas, such as helping to provide the finances and means of bringing water to the thirsty, food to the hungry and care for the wounded and impoverished.

As Lynn Arnold, chief executive of World Vision in Australia recently said: “Whatever we think of the war, we cannot ignore the suffering it has caused.”

Yet practical help on it’s own is not enough. Yes, human life is a precious gift but even more precious is the gift that Christ gave the people of planet Earth when he laid down his life and redeemed us from our sins. We need to be praying for all those involved in this conflict - whether military forces or civilians - who have not yet recognised the light that Christ brings into this world of darkness.

The Great Commission and the Great Commandment that Jesus Christ called us to, deal with simple enough concepts: love and salvation.

Both are going to be needed in Iraq. This is a nation which has suffered horribly for many years under the brutal regime of Saddam Hussein. A nation where fear has ruled; where thousands have seen their loved ones killed and maimed in times of both war and “peace”.

Now that the war has been fought and - as I write this - Saddam Hussein and his regime are either dead or on the run - Iraq will slowly fade from the world’s attention. Newspaper’s frontpages and nightly television news broadcasts have already began to turn their scrutiny elsewhere as the world lurches into its next crisis, whether it be SARS or the nuclear threat posed by North Korea.

The jubilant scenes of people freed from the shackles of an evil government are already in the process of being consigned to simply being another chapter in the world’s history. Slowly, the war with Iraq is becoming a memory.

But for those living in Iraq, the shadows cast by the evils of Hussein and his minions and yes, to some extent the war as well, will endure for a long time.

The images of Saddam’s torture centres and the pictures of the mass graves caused by, among other atrocities, his gassing of the Kurdish people, won’t linger for us, but for those who had to cope with them face-to-face they’ll never go away.

Iraqis will also have to confront the job of picking up the pieces of the ruined nation they’ve inherited. It’s going to take time to reconstruct the country: human rights organisations say it will take up to 10 years just to clear some of the millions of landmines located in high priority areas.

As the dust settles on the war, the long, hard road of recovery can begin. The west - in particular Christians, given the calling Christ has given us - have a responsibility to help ensure the Iraqi people’s physical needs are met.

But, perhaps most importantly of all, the Iraqi people are going to need us to be faithful in our prayer. Not just today. Not just tomorrow. But for months and years to come.

Pray for God’s peace in Iraq. Pray for healing. And, above all else, pray for the salvation of a people.