wfn.org | Moderator's Letter to the Church on Iraq

[PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org]

25-February-1997 
97097 
 
             Moderator's Letter to the Church on Iraq 
 
                   by the Rev. John M. Buchanan 
 
[Editor's note: After last summer's General Assembly asked its moderator, 
the Rev. John M. Buchanan, to address the church on the subject of Iraq, 
the Presbyterian News Service readily agreed to provide space for that 
letter in "NEWS BRIEFS." -- Jerry L. Van Marter] 
 
February 14, 1997 
 
Dear Brothers and Sisters, 
 
The 208th General Assembly (1996) asked its Moderator to address the church 
on the subject of Iraq. After consulting with the Stated Clerk and the 
Middle East area coordinator for the Worldwide Ministries Division (WMD), I 
am doing so by way of the Presbyterian News Service. 
 
The world knows that the regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has been 
and is responsible for bringing unprecedented and incalculable suffering to 
the Iraqi people.  Since the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990, the 
response of the world community has been intended to punish the behavior of 
the Iraqi government.  The unintended result, however, has increased 
suffering for the Iraqi people with tragic and unconscionable loss of 
innocent lives. 
 
The imposition of sanctions by the United States and the United Nations 
(U.N.), eased negligibly recently, has weakened the economic structures of 
Iraqi society, punishing the people, not the government. 
 
At the urging of many Presbyterians, the 208th General Assembly (1996), 
meeting at Albuquerque, requested me to communicate the Assembly's deep 
concern for the deplorable conditions under which the people of Iraq are 
living.  We have information that the lack of adequate nutrition, 
medication and medical treatment has been responsible for the death of 
perhaps a half-million children.  The spread of disease, with inadequate 
health care due to severe shortages of medicine and equipment, has put 
innumerable more lives at risk.  People who formerly enjoyed an adequate 
living have had to sell their homes and other belongings in order merely to 
survive.  And those of meager means have been swept away in the torrent of 
deprivation. 
 
The recent agreement to allow Iraq, under very stringent controls, certain 
amounts of oil sales has been insufficient to address basic needs. 
Moreover, the clearance procedures and the lack of purchasing capacity has 
limited the people's access to food, medicines and other humanitarian 
needs. 
 
While deploring the intransigence and cruelty of the present Iraqi regime, 
the General Assembly felt impelled to speak out in Christian compassion on 
behalf of the suffering innocent.  To express its concern, the Stated Clerk 
has communicated with the Secretary General of the United Nations, the 
President and all the members of the United Nations Security Council, the 
President and Secretary of State of the United States and the appropriate 
committees of the United States Congress.  The Clerk has also conveyed the 
Assembly's concern to the general secretaries of the Middle East Council of 
Churches (MECC), the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the 
U.S.A. and the World Council of Churches.  Oh behalf of Presbyterians, the 
Clerk also commended the Middle East Council of Churches in its efforts to 
respond to the needs of the Iraqi people, and has sought the counsel and 
assistance of the MECC to seek appropriate ways to convey these concerns to 
the Iraqi government. 
 
We also have requested the Middle East area coordinator in the WMD, if the 
way be clear and as soon as may be possible, to make a visit to Iraq, to be 
accompanied possibly by a small representative group, to communicate our 
solidarity with our Christian brothers and sisters in Iraq as they make 
their own witness in the midst of inconceivable suffering, and to give 
encouragement to others who are engaged in ministries of relief and 
compassion.  In addition, we have requested the WMD, on behalf of the 
Assembly, to collate information about the people of Iraq, the current 
impact of the embargo and the effects of the U.S. and U.N. policies on 
their lives, and to make such information available, on request, to 
congregations desiring to learn more about the situation in Iraq. 
 
The Assembly has also asked me, as your Moderator, and I therefore urge you 
 
     *     to pray for the people of Iraq, and for people throughout the 
           Middle East, who are affected by all the conflicts in their 
           region 
     *     to advocate change in the selective sanctions policy and 
           practice of  the United Nations and the United States 
     *     to keep yourselves informed about the humanitarian needs of 
           Iraq, noting especially the material contained in the attached 
           Background to the Resolution adopted by the 208th Assembly 
     *     and, in the name of our compassionate Lord, to support the 
           humanitarian efforts of the church and the world community. 
 
Finally, I commend you for your own concern for all of God's children, 
especially those who are in crisis or suffer the effects of  political and 
military conflict.  In this Lenten season, let us pray for the whole church 
of Jesus Christ, and for ourselves, that we may grow in the knowledge and 
grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ. 

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