wfn.org | Episcopalians: Griswold joins church leaders warning against military action in Iraq

[dmack@episcopalchurch.org]

September 12, 2002

2002-210

Episcopalians: Griswold joins church leaders warning against 
military action in Iraq

by James Solheim

(ENS) Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold has joined a 
wide-ranging ecumenical group of 48 church leaders in opposing 
military action against Iraq. In a letter to President George W. 
Bush, released today, the church leaders acknowledged that 
"Hussein poses a threat to his neighbors and to his open people 
[but] we nevertheless believe it is wrong, as well as 
detrimental to U.S. interests" to launch an attack on Iraq.

The letter emerged from Churches for Middle East Peace, 
a Washington-based national coalition of churches and religious 
organizations. "We oppose on moral grounds the United States 
taking further military action against Iraq now," said the 
letter. Citing the probable humanitarian consequences, civilian 
casualties, and the potential political chaos of such a war, the 
church leaders noted that U.S. military forces could easily 
destabilize the region, with possible catastrophic results, and 
further increase anti-American sentiment in the Middle East and 
Gulf.

"It is detrimental to U.S. interests to take unilateral 
military action when there continues to be strong multilateral 
support for a new weapons inspection regime and when most 
governments in Europe and the Middle East resist supporting 
military action," the letter said. "The preemptive use of 
military force by the United States to deal with proliferation 
problems, as serious as they may be, establishes a dangerous 
precedent, particularly for other nations that feel threatened 
by the weapons capabilities of their neighbors."

"We do not need to march down the path to Armageddon," said 
General Secretary Bob Edgar of the National Council of Churches 
(NCC). "Preemptive military action now being contemplated by the 
Administration cannot be morally justified."

Releasing their letter after President Bush's statement at 
the United Nations General Assembly, the leaders insisted that 
the president work through the U.N. in peaceful efforts to 
resolve the crisis. The issue is "how does the U.S. work with 
and through the U.N. to implement the consensus of the 
international community," said the Rev. Stan DeBoe, chair of 
Churches for Middle East Peace. "We are urging the president to 
uphold the values of our great country by working closely with 
the community of nations, not by rattling sabers nor by 
threatening to overthrow governments with force," he said.

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(The full text of the letter and the signatories is available on 
the web at www.cmep.org/iraqletter.htm.)

--James Solheim is director of Episcopal News Service.