Cox was the British governor of Iraq. Without prompting he continued, “You cannot lose something you don’t have. The oil of Iraq has never been for Iraq. What difference does it make to me if it goes to Saddam or the Americans? I just want to live in peace and be free. The oil is the problem of the next generation, not mine.”

Iraq is the exposed flesh that everyone can see, but the rest of the Arab body is aching with the same malady. The invasion of Kuwait brought years of austerity and wrecked the economy of the region. This war is going to bring more than economic hardships. It will bring mayhem on a scale never seen before. The first victims of this war would be the voices of reason and sanity in the region. The fanatic will have his field turned and fertilized and ready to sow with the all the madness that fanaticism is capable of. So what to do? What is done is done, and the war is history now and we are in phase two of this passion play of Iraq.

I think it is time to unite. No, I am not talking about the Arab world. I’m talking about Islam and Christianity. The Pope, head of the largest religious community in the world, spoke volumes though his voice was feeble and shaky. He was against the war, as was the majority of Muslims. Like the Muslims, he asked that Saddam take into account his people and behave responsibly. Neither the Pope nor the Muslims had any high hopes he might respond, but they tried nonetheless.

Meanwhile, the war machine in the United States is being fueled by an orchestrated effort marching to its end. Fundamentalism is not the exclusive domain of the Middle East. The Far Right in America has its agenda and now that they have control of the mighty American war machine, the problem is global. Will Iraq be the first drop of blood on the road to Armageddon?

The Church, after Vatican II, is well on the road to re-writing history. Pope John Paul II apologized to the Muslims about the Crusades and visited the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus where St. Paul is supposedly buried. There is a Christian-Muslim dialogue committee. The Emir of Qatar, who is head of the Islamic Conference for this session, has just called for it to be in permanent session. These are excellent signs, but they are not enough. There is a precedent in history for Christian-Muslim cooperation in the face of the invading Mongols. If they could unite in war, why can’t they unite in peace, or at least to keep the peace?

The majority of Christians and Muslims are not the extremists that factions from both sides are. In the absence of a vociferous majority, the small bands of extremists become deafeningly loud. Theological discourse should be left to the theologians. As for the rest of us, we should unite in mutual respect for each other. Those who branded our Prophet a terrorist are just as bad as those on the other side branding Christians “infidels”. Name-calling will not solve the problem, and there are injunctions against that in the Qur’an.

Iraq now is a lawless state. The Americans are claiming that they are not there to do police work. Before the “liberation” sours in the eyes of the Iraqis, something drastic should be done. Instead of actively applying themselves to the problem, Administration officials are busy setting up Syria as the second in line. Rumsfeld, meanwhile, doesn’t even see the problem beyond a single scene “played over and over on television screens.” This cavalier attitude is what set most people against this war in the first place.

People around here are saying that the Bush administration is allowing the looting and destruction to go ahead with the view that the more destruction, the more construction contracts for Haliburton and Co. Now that might not be true, but politics are not made of truth; rather, they are made of conceptions of truth. In the face of this new assault, humanity has to make an effort beyond the politicians. Removing a tyrant is a step, but it is the easiest of steps on this long road.

The clash of civilizations is a fiction created by those who have an agenda and a visible objective. Those who profit from war and covet the realms and homes of the other are those in favor of clashes of this sort. They are the politicians of all hues. It is time, therefore, for the moral authorities to step in with determination and vigor. The Vatican and Islam have the power to do just that. The emir of Qatar’s gesture was a step, and it would be better if he invited the Pope to balance the invitation he extended to the invading armies.