Text of Col. Lammers’ letter
The Layman Online, December 12, 2005
Mr. Rick Ufford-Chase
Moderator, 216th General Assembly (2004)
Reverend Clifton Kirkpatrick
Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church
Dear Esteemed Colleagues,
Thank you for your public letter and efforts to work for peace here in Iraq. Your efforts are noble. I also work for peace but from a radically different perspective and geographic location right now.
I am writing from Baghdad in response to your letter to the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the Church’s Middle East Partners dated December 7, 2005. I know your letter while well-intentioned, does more harm than good to our church, her Middle East Partners, and freedom for Iraq. You give hope to the enemies of freedom and discount facts. Please consider the truth about Islamic fascism before you write another letter underestimating this rampant movement and overstating the responsibility of the United States’ government for this war.
I am here in Iraq serving in my ninth month as the senior advisor to the Supporting Forces, Ministry of Interior, Iraq Transitional Government and formerly of the Interim Government of Iraq consisting of some 171,400 security guards, border and custom police. I serve on a staff group with some 800 military and police trainers and advisors. Our parent command is the Multi National Security Transition Command Iraq (MNSTC-I).
In this demanding capacity which has emphasized border security, I have performed varied duties in continuous imminent danger at three distinct levels of war-tactical, operational, and strategic. I have traveled to many portions of Iraq’s borders and spoken to many Iraqis. There is no formal polling data to offer you, but I can assure you that no one, to whom I have spoken, would agree with your supposition that lives “have been endangered because of the United States’ war against Iraq.” That includes not only Iraqis but a wide variety of folks like international contractors and military officers, US military personnel, and State Department folks. They would disagree with you because it just isn’t so. The United States is not at war with Iraq.
Something our politicians consistently fail to tell you I will make clear: the United States is not at war with “terror.” The United States is at war with Islamic fascists who want to kill you and destroy our way of life. Make no mistake. They want to kill you. Period. They want to kill you because you are an American and you do not subscribe to their religion. The public record on that is quite clear. These Islamic fascists are a ruthless cunning breed. You reach out to them with the olive branch and you are likely to die. There is no inviting them to the campfire to sing “Kum Ba Ya.” We who love Jesus and peace are in a most difficult position with respect to these fascists. It is true that I have yet to speak knowingly to any Islamic fascist, insurgent (martyr or guerilla fighter), Bathist Party member, or any other anti Iraq fighter. But my strong hunch is that Islamic fascists would agree with you that “the United States’ war with Iraq” is the cause of lives being endangered. Islamic fascists would also probably agree with the General Assembly’s position “that there was no justification for the US Government’s invasion of Iraq.”
However, millions of Iraqis and especially the Kurds up in the north could cite compelling justification for invasion to destroy one of the most brutal regimes in modern times. The Kurdish women who know rape, murder, mayhem, and gassing whole villages could cite you plenty of justification. These people are among the millions who have turned out to vote in the interim government election, the referendum, and will vote again this week in spite of adversity and threats from Islamic fascists and former regime elements. These Iraqi patriots wave at us in helicopters as we fly over cities, villages and farms. These are the type of people who are glad we are here and thank us continually for their emerging freedom. They would disagree that “there was no justification for the US Government’s invasion of Iraq.”
I am grieved that you, who are so committed to Jesus Christ and peace, would sign a letter that erroneously puts all the blame for this difficult contest on the United States and ignores the case of freedom loving Iraqis. Yet, you ask little of the captors and demand nothing of the Islamic fascists, despotic regimes in the region or of Saddam Hussein’s henchmen still at large. I exhort you to consider another part of the problem. Islam leads people away from Jesus, the Way, the Truth, and the Life and binds the human spirit and creativity. Our faith in Him does just the opposite. We are drawn to Jesus. We trust in Him to the exclusion of anything else for our eternal salvation. Our spirits and creativity are empowered.
We can certainly agree that it was a good thing to ask for the immediate release of the volunteer hostages and to characterize Iraq as a “troubled land.” It is troubled in part because the masses here have not known the individual liberties that we take for granted in the political sphere. They are troubled in part because most have not heard the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We can also agree that the detainee problem is a serious one. The jurisprudence here is hampered by intimidation, assassinations, bigotry, and a most complicated security environment brought on primarily by terrorists and fascists who deploy suicide-homicide bombers. Please bear with the new Iraq government and the Coalition Forces as we try to create an environment in which liberty and justice can flourish.
While I am just as eager to see the CPT hostages released as you, their current difficulties were entirely predictable if they understood the harsh nature of the political and theological currents of Islamic fascism here in Iraq. In fact when my fellow officers and I heard of this we asked incredulously, “Did they not fully understand the nature of the threat before them? Couldn’t they tell the good guys from the bad?” One of the lessons of the cross is to brace ourselves for the forces of unreason and sin. I take that lesson seriously. So seriously, in fact, I have devoted a good part of my life to the defense of our nation, our way of life and our liberties. I think they are worth defending and if necessary, something for which to fight and to die.
I join you and others who pray that these CPT hostages did not sacrifice themselves on the altar of Iraqi freedom. We have had enough combatants do that already. I also pray that more Presbyterians, especially very senior leaders such as you, come to a better understanding of the harsh nature of Islamic fascism and the growing threat to our way of life. Right now, there is little promise that this out of control satanic movement will subside anytime soon.
With keen respect and fraternal love, I remain,
Faithfully yours,
Carl R. Lammers
Continuing Member
Presbytery of Baltimore