IOP Fellow Says U.S. Must Not Be ‘Global Policeman’

The U.S. should not play the role of “global policeman” and attempt to combat terrorism without the rest of the world’s cooperation, the Rev. Jim Wallis told a group of about 30 students at an Institute of Politics (IOP) study group meeting yesterday.

Wallis, who is executive director and editor of Sojourners magazine and is currently serving as an IOP fellow, said the world as a whole should attack “not just the symptoms but the root causes” of terrorism.

Wallis acknowledged the threat posed by Iraq, calling Saddam Hussein a “genuinely evil, brutal dictator.”

But he said war is not the answer.

Instead, he said the world’s leaders should find another way to neutralize the threat Iraq presents.

Wallis said that from a religious standpoint, waging war upon Iraq’s people would be unconscionable.

As an alternate solution, Wallis said the U.S. and other powerful nations should join together to lead a global dismantling of all means of mass destruction.

He emphasized the importance of the U.S. acting in accordance with other countries rather than taking a unilateral stance.

“It’s just too dangerous to put world peace into the hands of the world’s one remaining superpower,” he said. “There is a need for collective security, not enforcement by the United States.”

But this idea met with opposition by members of the audience.

Jeremy P. Galen ’05 called collective security a “pipe dream,” saying that action cannot depend on a world consensus.

“Sitting on our hands would take forever,” said Galen during an exchange with Wallis.

Above all, Wallis said, the U.S. must disabuse itself of the idea that its power allows it do whatever its leaders choose—regardless of whether or not other nations agree.

“Iraq to me is the U.S. not knowing how to fight the war on terrorism and falling back on what we know how to do,” he said.

Judith Oleson, a student of the mid-career program at the Kennedy School of Government (KSG), called Wallis’ study groups inspiring. Yesterday’s meeting was the fifth in a weekly series of discussions about faith in politics and social change.

“By [Wallis’] own lifetime work and the speakers he’s brought in, he’s given a lot of concrete examples of how it’s really faith that gives people hope,” she said.

Wallis taught a course called “Faith, Politics and Society” at the KSG four years ago.

Since then, he has remained involved in the University, giving a number of speeches on the role of faith in political action and social change at the KSG and Divinity School.

He said that during the student takeover of Massachusetts Hall in the spring of 2001, students inside the building called him to “chat strategy.”

Wallis said his main goal in the study groups—and, more broadly, his role at Harvard—is to involve as many students as possible in movements for social justice.

“I want to build social movements,” he said after the meeting, “it’s social movements with a spiritual focus that change things.”