Strange Liberators

I was updating our church website and found this interesting article from the United Methodist News Service. It talks about Jim Winkler, top executive of the General Board of Church and Society, and his statement opposing President Bush's proposed surge of US troops into Baghdad. He talks about the futility of the exercise.

But most interestingly, he quotes the words of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. regarding the American War in Vietnam:

"Dr. King stated that given the widespread destruction caused by that war, the people of Vietnam must have seen us as 'strange liberators.' So, too, is the United States viewed today by the people of Iraq."

The phrase "strange liberators" really struck me. We, of course, have gone into Iraq claiming to be liberators. The military codename for the operation is Iraqi Freedom. And we expected to be greeted as liberators. But now, as we're finishing up our fourth year in Iraq, daily life for the average Iraqi is worse than it was under the government of Sadaam Hussein. We are indeed strange liberators.