wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Church leaders present 'alternative to war'

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Note #7633 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

Church leaders present 'alternative to war'
03139

Church leaders present 'alternative to war'

Ecumenical group says there is a non-violent way to topple Saddam

by John Filiatreau

LOUISVILLE - In an 11th-hour bid to avert war, a group of U.S. church leaders
has made public a detailed plan to disarm Iraq and remove Iraqi leader Saddam
Hussein from power without unleashing a "military conflagration" that would
cost the lives of thousands of combatants and civilians.
	
The group, which includes the Rev. Cliff Kirkpatrick, stated clerk of the
Presbyterian Church (USA), proposed what it called "a 'third way' between war
and ineffectual responses" to dislodge Saddam's "brutal regime."
	
It said war would have "unpredictable and potentially disastrous
consequences" - numerous civilian casualties, destabilization of the Middle
East, a precedent for "pre-emptive" warfare and "the fueling of more
terrorism" against the United States and its allies.
	
"The potential nexus between weapons of mass destruction and terrorism is the
leading security issue in the world today," the religious leaders wrote.
"This is the moral dilemma: a decision between the terrible nature of that
threat and the terrible nature of war as a solution."
	
They characterized the anticipated U.S. military action as "a war against the
people of Iraq ... a devastating attack on the people of Iraq."

The group's blueprint calls for:

	
* An international tribunal to indict Saddam and other top Iraqi officials
for war crimes and crimes against humanity, thereby sending "a clear signal
that (Saddam) has no future" and bringing to bear "internal and external
forces that might remove him from power";
	
* "Coercive disarmament" through a combination of more aggressive weapons
inspections, a multinational military force with a United Nations mandate to
"support and enforce" inspections, "the unrestricted use of spy planes" over
Iraqi territory, and "expanded no-fly and no-drive zones";
	
* Strengthening the embargo against arms shipments to Iraq by installing "a
more effective monitoring system" and preventing illegal arms shipments into
Iraq from Jordan, Syria, Turkey and other neighboring states;
	
* A UN civil administration to foster democracy in a "post-Saddam Iraq,"
rather than a U.S. military occupation;
	
* A massive humanitarian effort to ease the suffering of the Iraqi people;
	
* A renewed commitment on the parts of "the United States, United Kingdom,
and other European Union nations" to "address the root cause of Middle East
conflict by committing to a peace plan resulting in a two-state solution to
the conflict between Israel and Palestine";
	
* Reinvigorating and sustaining the war against terrorism rather than
diverting resources to an attack on Iraq that would only "fuel anti-American
animosity in the Arab world, where cooperation in the war on terror is most
needed".
	
	
"It is five minutes before midnight, as Martin Luther King Jr. might have put
it," the church leaders wrote. "Unless an alternative to war is found, a
military conflagration soon will be unleashed.
	
"A morally rooted and pragmatically minded initiative, broadly supported by
people of faith and people of good will, might help to achieve a historic
breakthrough and set a precedent for decisive and effective international
action in the many crises we face."
	
The religious delegation is the same one that met with British Prime Minister
Tony Blair on Feb. 18. Its members include, in addition to Kirkpatrick, Jim
Wallis, editor in chief of Sojourners magazine; John Bryson Chane, the
Episcopal Bishop of Washington, DC; Melvin Talbert of the United Methodist
Council of Bishops; and Dan Weiss of American Baptist Churches in the USA.
	
The group said its plan to avert war was developed after the discussions in
London and "subsequent conversations among the U.S. delegation."
	
The group invited citizens to endorse the plan and "tell Blair, President
Bush and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan that Saddam Hussein can be disarmed
without war" by completing a form at the Sojourners Web site:
www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=action.speak_out. The full text of the plan is
also available there.
	
The delegation acknowledged that its peace plan "faces great political odds,"
but said endorsing it is "a prophetic act of faithful witness to those in
power." The group also recommended "taking a moment to pray for President
Bush, Prime Minister Blair, Kofi Annan, Saddam Hussein, and the people of
Iraq."

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