Homecoming

The announcement on Friday by President Barack Obama that all US troops will come home from Iraq by December 31 is welcome news.  Begun on March 20, 2003, this has been an exceedingly long US war, second only to the war in Afghanistan.  Consider this: our 10-year-old children have never known a day when the United States was not fighting a war.  What effect this continuous decade of intense international conflict and death will have on our national psyche is not yet clear.  The toll on families and our national budget is already abundantly clear.  It is time for homecoming as our fathers and mothers, daughters and sons, grandchildren, friends and neighbors return.

It is important that this homecoming be marked with celebration and many prayers.  Many are returning with scars and wounds that are visible and invisible.  We must honor their service and their sacrifice.  Many will not be returning; 4,479 US soldiers have died in this war.  Amid the joy, we sense the deep sorrow that still surrounds us all.  This war has also brought pain, suffering, and death to friends and foes in Iraq and to those nations who have joined as our allies in the fight.  It is time to end this war;  it is time for the homecoming.

Some might ask anxious questions in light of this news:  Are we leaving Iraq too soon?  Should we not keep some military presence there?  What if the "liberation" does not last?  What if our enemies suddenly reassert themselves?  Will diplomacy ensure a peaceful future for the Iraqi people and for us?  There are so many questions and so many politicians and commentators who are giving voice to the anxiety that is  associated with this ending and its homecoming.  Yet, it is clear that it is time for our involvement in this war to end.  It is time too--high time--for a similar ending in Afghanistan.

My homecoming prayer is that of the ancient Hebrew prophets--Isaiah and Micah.  I pray for the day when

[God] shall judge between the nations,
    and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
    and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
    neither shall they learn war any more."

--Isaiah 2:4, New Revised Standard Version

May it be so!