What Did We Gain?

 I confess that I do not know how to make people open their eyes to what war is really about. We watch missiles rise into the night sky and listen to government officials speak of targets destroyed and missions accomplished. We are shown maps, military equipment, and buildings collapsing in the distance. What we are seldom shown is the mother standing beside the grave of her child.

We call it strategy. We call it national security. We call the dead “collateral damage.” But behind that cold expression are children who will never return home, teachers who will never enter another classroom, and families whose lives will never be whole again.

For generations, American governments—under both Republican and Democratic leadership—have accepted the deaths of civilians as part of warfare in the Middle East. They assure us that civilians are not intentionally targeted. Yet when bombs repeatedly fall near schools, hospitals, homes, electrical systems, and water supplies, we must ask whether saying the deaths were unintended is enough.

At what point does a foreseeable consequence become a moral responsibility?

Their Children Are Not Expendable

We would never accept the bombing of an American school as an unfortunate consequence of another nation’s military operation. We would not call our dead children collateral damage. We would display their photographs, speak their names, demand justice, and remember the attack for generations.

Why, then, do we expect Iranian, Iraqi, Afghan, Palestinian, Lebanese, Syrian, or Yemeni parents to respond differently?

Their children laugh as ours do. They have hopes, fears, favorite meals, and dreams about what they will become. Their parents kiss them goodnight, worry when they are sick, and wait for them to return from school.

Jesus said:

“Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.” — Matthew 7:12, KJV

We cannot ask God to protect our children while remaining indifferent when our government’s weapons kill the children of others.

Why Do They Call America the “Great Satan”?

Many Americans are offended when people in Iran call the United States the “Great Satan.” I reject that hateful description of the American people as a whole. Millions of Americans desire peace, show compassion, and do not support the killing of innocent people.

But we should be willing to ask why that name finds an audience.

Imagine that a foreign nation bombed your community, destroyed your home, damaged your hospital, killed your child, and then described the death as collateral damage. Imagine watching its leaders celebrate victory without acknowledging your loss. What opinion would you form of that government?

We know America by its churches, neighbors, charitable works, and freedoms. Those living beneath American bombs may know us by explosions, funerals, sanctions, displacement, and empty chairs around the family table.

That does not justify hatred or terrorism. One evil never excuses another. But refusing to understand the source of anger guarantees that hatred will continue.

The Bible warns:

“They have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.” — Hosea 8:7, KJV

A nation cannot sow suffering across generations and then act surprised when it reaps resentment.

What Did We Gain?

After all the wars, invasions, occupations, airstrikes, sanctions, and trillions of dollars spent, what did we gain?

Did we bring lasting peace to Iraq? Did Afghanistan become the secure democracy we promised? Did Libya become more stable after its government fell? Have our military actions ended terrorism, or have destroyed homes and grieving families provided extremists with new reasons to recruit?

We eliminated leaders, destroyed armies, occupied territory, and declared victory. Yet the Middle East remains wounded and unstable. American families also buried their sons and daughters. Veterans returned with damaged bodies, troubled minds, and memories that will never leave them. Our nation accumulated debt, surrendered more power to the machinery of war, and became involved in one conflict after another.

What did we gain that was worth the lives of so many children?

“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” — Mark 8:36, KJV

Perhaps America gained military influence, access, bases, contracts, and temporary political advantage. But if we lost our compassion, weakened our moral witness, and taught the world to associate our flag with destruction, the price was far greater than our leaders admit.

The Language That Hides the Dead

War has developed its own vocabulary.

A dead family becomes “civilian casualties.” A destroyed neighborhood becomes “infrastructure degradation.” A child killed by a missile becomes “collateral damage.” An attack that failed becomes an “operational miscalculation.”

These words place distance between us and the suffering. They allow us to discuss death without feeling its weight.

Madeleine Albright was asked in 1996 about reports that sanctions against Iraq had contributed to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children. When asked whether the price was worth it, she answered, “We think the price is worth it.” She later regretted those words, and the exact casualty estimate remains disputed. Nevertheless, that answer expressed the terrible attitude that the suffering of foreign children could be weighed against a political objective and accepted as its price.

No child should become the currency with which governments purchase their ambitions.

“Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed.” — Isaiah 10:1, KJV

We Must Use the Same Measure

I condemn Iran when it kills innocent people. I condemn terrorism, hostage-taking, and attacks upon civilians. I condemn Israel when its military actions kill children and destroy homes. And because I am an American, I must be equally willing to condemn my own government when it does the same.

Morality cannot depend upon whose flag is painted upon the missile.

We cannot call an Iranian missile evil when it strikes a school and call an American missile unfortunate when it does the same thing. The grieving parents see no moral difference. Their child is still dead.

Jesus said:

“For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” — Matthew 7:2, KJV

If we demand accountability from our enemies, we must demand it from ourselves.

Blessed Are the Peacemakers

Some will say that speaking this way is unpatriotic. I disagree. Loving America does not require silence when its government does wrong. The prophets loved their people enough to warn them. They did not strengthen the nation by flattering its rulers. They called the people back to righteousness.

“Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.” — Matthew 5:9, KJV

Jesus did not say, “Blessed are those who produce peace through superior firepower.” He blessed the peacemakers.

Peace requires courage. It requires leaders willing to negotiate, admit mistakes, restrain pride, and recognize the humanity of an enemy. War is often presented as strength, but sometimes it is the refuge of leaders who lack the humility and patience necessary to make peace.

Open Our Eyes, Lord

My frustration is not merely political. It is spiritual. I fear that repeated war has hardened our hearts. We see destroyed buildings but not the people beneath them. We hear casualty numbers but not the cries of parents. We celebrate victory before counting the graves.

I cannot force anyone to open their eyes. I can only speak, pray, write, and refuse to call evil good.

“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness.” — Isaiah 5:20, KJV

Lord, open our eyes. Restore our compassion. Help us see every child as precious, regardless of nationality, religion, or race. Give our leaders wisdom to seek peace before another missile is launched, another school is destroyed, and another family is left grieving.

America must stop believing that violence will bring the peace violence has repeatedly failed to produce.

After all the bloodshed, sorrow, hatred, debt, and destruction, the question remains:

What did we gain—and was it worth what we lost?