No Oil for Pacifists: Disestablishmentarianism

UPDATE: below

Unlike America, England has a state religion--so when Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams whines, it's more than just another nutty cleric:

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, leader of the world's Anglicans, has launched an attack on the United States, saying it has lost the high moral ground since the September 11 attacks in 2001.

Williams, a longtime critic of the war in Iraq, said in uncharacteristically blunt language: "We have only one hegemonic power at the moment. It is not accumulating territory, it is trying to accumulate influence and control. That's not working."

Asked in an interview with the Muslim lifestyle magazine Emel [NOfP note: who knew there was a Muslim lifestyle magazine not named "Fifty Ways to Bomb Your Brother"?], if he thought the United States had lost the high moral ground since the 9/11 attacks, he replied "Yes."

Drawing comparisons between British imperialism and the 21st Century United States, Williams said: "It is one thing to take over a territory and then pour energy and resources into administering and normalizing it.

"Rightly or wrongly, that is what the British Empire did -- in India for example."

"It is another thing to go in on the assumption that a quick burst of violent action will somehow clear the decks and that you can move on and other people will put things back together again -- Iraq for example."

This is insane. While Britain slowly draws-down its forces from Iraq, the U.S. doubled its bet in the well-publicized surge. "Rightly or wrongly" -- but contrary to Williams -- we're not relying on the kindness of strangers: we're sacrificing American lives and treasure.

It's incumbent on Prime Minister Gordon Brown to disavow Williams. Or, firmly and finally, to dissolve the remaining links between the government and the Anglican Church. Or both.

MORE:

Lest one forget, in addition to being Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams was initiated into the druid sect "the Gorsedd of the Bards" in 2002; the BBC story included this photo and caption: