Liberty Minute August 27 2014

In 2003, then-French President Jacques Chirac urged the Bush administration to consider a negotiated solution to the confrontation with Iraq. Blinded by its hubris, the Bush administration ignored Chirac's advice, as well as that of the Pope and other international figures, and embarked on an unnecessary war that removed Saddam ? and replaced him with a Shi'ite Muslim government now under siege by a radical Sunni movement called ISIS.

The group now calling itself ISIS coalesced out of radical Muslim elements that were supported by the U.S. in Libya and Syria. A year ago, as the US prepared to escalate its military campaign against the government of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, Russian President Vladimir Putin ? who, while hardly a saint, is a canny diplomat -- sponsored an initiative to remove that nation's chemical weapons without a dramatic military confrontation. He also warned that Washington was supporting the worst and most militant elements in the anti-Assad coalition ? the same group, once again, that morphed into ISIS.

The Book of Proverbs teaches that wise leaders seek ?an abundance of counselors.? This is particularly true in diplomatic affairs. Doing so is neither weakness nor a threat to national independence. Pretending we can dictate to the world evinces the kind of pride that is a precursor to a fall.

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.