The Vatican has given a rare and exceptional break away from its normal policies for peace to give the green light for the military strikes by the US against Iraq. Stating that it is a preventative measure to ensure the genocide of Christians comes to an end, the France-Presse reports, “intervention now, before it’s too late.” The weight on the government has been increasing for some time and it’s clear that a change had to have been made as allegations continue to pile up. By the severity of the situation, it’s not difficult to see why something such as a military airstrike would be approved, even though the Vatican has a name for refusing other calls to action, including their own cases, being of a more domestic and close to home nature. The airstrikes were to attempt to retake a dam that had been captured by the Islamic State, near Irbil. These humanitarian efforts included 9 strikes destroying four armored personnel carriers, seven armed vehicles, two Humvees and an armored vehicle. These were critical infrastructure and at the request of the Iraqi government, they were executed because the Islamic forces could no longer hold the dam, according to an U.S. official.
Pope Francis
The measures being taken by both sides could be seen as strong-arming, but then again, does the U.S. have more to their disposal that they aren’t using? Of course they do. Spending more than many other world powers combined on their military would certainly ensure a higher technology and arsenal. Airstrikes are nothing new, but are there other methods that are more efficient for neutralizing a threat and stopping genocide as well as keeping the military personnel who uphold these values safe? At what extent is a search for peace inevitably going to be shrouded by more violence than what was originally hoped to be stopped or prevented? Time and time again in these conquests, it has been shown that once a military leader has been squelched, a new one rises up. Reform can’t always be won in the way of combat but what hope is there for the very peace the Vatican wants to promote and regulate in refusing other acts of harm? Even though the Vatican is using a means that is typically avoided, they were still criticized for being slow to react, as if moral and regulation are to be pushed aside by the first sign of conflict. What’s worse, however, is that there was disbelief that the violence was actually happening. Pope Francis had hoped to be diplomatic and come to an effective political solution.
For this incident specifically, the first actions that caused this eruption were the ‘convert or be killed’ tactics employed by the invading militants. This form of religiously reinforced warfare has been used by multiple groups for hundreds of year, and this includes the militants who killed at least 500 Yazidis. The Yazidis, whose numbers are in the hundreds of thousands, have a history of being persecuted in the north by the militants. “Those supplying arms and funds to the fundamentalists, [and] the countries tacitly supporting them, must be revealed,” Mr. Tomasi added. So from trying to find a diplomatic and political solution to destroying armored vehicles, this ancient home of the Yazidis being captured by Sunni militants introduces a new perspective. This perspective is a view of demonic worship. The Sunni militants believe that the Yazidis worship a devil figure and this is the source of the demand to convert to the faith. They of course are a minority in the Kurdish community.