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A Simple Question for Peace:
Is Reconciliation Possible?
by Greg Moses
Mar. 3, 2003
Time after time lately, our television hosts have asked their guests the final question, is war inevitable? And time after time, guests have replied, yes.
Yet if we shift the final question, I think we can change history.
War is only inevitable if we forget that the end game of peacemaking is reconciliation.
With only weeks, perhaps days, to dissuade the order to war, we must press the final question: is reconciliation possible? And if so, how?
This is not dreaming. Unless we press the question of reconciliation in the coming days, it will soon be too late.
With a global peace movement ascending, and with a grace period gained by the Turkish parliament, peacemakers now should be asking how they envision the prospect of getting both US President George W. Bush and Iraq President Saddam Hussein to see themselves in the role of peacemakers at this critical time.
The question of reconciliation requires all sides to see each other in terms of their deepest needs. It is no small problem to notice that issues of pride have been set into play. Peacemakers have to make it their business to find ways for both men to save face.
For media producers, especially, the effort would be a small one, yet the effects would save thousands of lives.
If we can change the final question, we can change the final outcome. Believe it.
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