Source: Fresno: Center for Peacemaking and Conflict Studies. Fresno Pacific University. Downloaded 2 October 2003.
In this short essay, Duane Ruth-Heffelbower reflects on peace-building in the context of the fall of the Iraqi regime in April 2003 following military intervention in Iraq by the American government. The fall of the regime led at first to looting by Iraqis on a large scale – while the American military largely stood by without attempting to stop the looting. Ruth-Heffelbower’s argument is that the use of military intervention carries with it the responsibility to provide for civil order during the transition from one regime to a new government and society. Hence, peace-making and peace-building are critical activities in the turbulent atmosphere of a transitional period, and Ruth-Heffelbower sketches the great need for such initiatives to be undertaken in Iraq.
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