wfn.org | Bombing could worsen Iraqi people's misery and still not stop

[DISCNEWS.parti@ecunet.org (DISCNEWS)]

Saddam, church leaders warn
Date: February 18, 1998
Disciples News Service
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Contact: Clifford L. Willis
Email: CWillis@oc.disciples.org
on the web: http//www.disciples.org

98b-12

Office of Communication
United Church of Christ
Hans Holznagel
(216) 736-2214
holznagh@ucc.org
On the Web: www.ucc.org

Office of Communication
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)      
Clifford L. Willis
(317) 635-3113, ext. 207
cwillis@oc.disciples.org
On the Web:  www.disciples.org

     INDIANAPOLIS (DNS) -- Acknowledging the suffering of Iraqis
under the "horrible regime" of Saddam Hussein, the leaders of two North
American mainline Protestant churches nonetheless urged President Clinton to
consider alternatives to military force --  for the sake of those same Iraqi
citizens.

     Iraq's people have also been "victims of a murderous regime of
economic sanctions that has already claimed the lives of over a half-million
Iraqi children, for lack of food, medicine and potable water. Bombing Iraq will
only make their lives more miserable," wrote the Rev. Paul
H. Sherry of Cleveland, president of the United Church of Christ, and the Rev.
Richard L. Hamm of Indianapolis, general minister and president of the
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

     Their comments appear in a letter that was faxed to Clinton Feb. 17.  

     In addition, Sherry and Hamm are among the religious leaders who
have signed on to a statement from the National Council of Churches opposing
any bombing of Iraq. 

     The United Church of Christ, with national offices in Cleveland, has
1.5 million members and more than 6,000 local churches in the United States
and Puerto Rico. The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), with general
offices in Indianapolis, has more than 900,000 members and more than 3,900
congregations in the United States and Canada. In both denominations,
congregations and members are free to hold opinions that differ from
statements made by officers and national bodies of the two churches. 

-                    - end --
[EDITORS: Here is the full text of a letter sent to President Clinton Feb. 17 by
the Rev. Paul H. Sherry, president of the United Church of Christ, and the Rev.
Richard L. Hamm, general minister and president of the Christian Church
(Disciples of Christ).]

     "We write to you as you ponder the use of military force against Iraq.
We urge restraint. We entertain no illusions about the nature of the Iraqi
regime. This is, indeed, a regime that has ruthlessly violated the basic human
rights of many of its own citizens; a regime that has already used poison gas
against Iranian adversaries and against its own Kurdish population; a regime
that invaded and occupied the sovereign nation of Kuwait.

     "It is, however, our vocation as church leaders not only to condemn the
wrongdoing of tyrants, but also to speak on behalf of those who are rendered
voiceless and without advocates in the corridors of power, in this instance the
people of Iraq. The Iraqi people have not made the fateful decisions that now
make them the potential targets of a devastating air attack. Nor were they
involved in any meaningful way in the earlier decision to invade Kuwait. It
seems that the role assigned to them by their own government and by the
international community is the role of victims, victims of the horrible regime
of Saddam Hussein, and victims of a murderous regime of economic sanctions
that has already claimed the lives of over a half million Iraqi children, for lack
of food, medicine and potable water.

     "Bombing Iraq will only make their lives more miserable, and will in
the process provoke the anger of other Middle Easterners who see Iraq, once a
self-sufficient and advanced Arab country, now reduced to what one UN
observer team called a  pre-industrial state.' Nor is it clear that such bombing
will, in fact, affect Iraq's capacity to produce or deploy weapons of mass
destruction.  Iraq must, we agree, be brought into compliance with UN
resolutions calling for the elimination of these weapons, but we would urge
that diplomacy among other Arab states be given a chance.

     "It has been our experience that tyranny's most potent enemy is
freedom. The continued imposition of non-military sanctions on Iraq has thus
far served only to strengthen the internal position of Saddam Hussein, while
increasing the misery of his people, and denying them contact with the outside
world. We would urge you to consider alternatives to the current policy of
isolating Iraq, beginning with a relaxation on restrictions on the importation of
humanitarian goods.

     "Our prayers are with you, Mr. President, as you make this critical
decision."

                     # # #

[EDITORS:  Sherry and Hamm are available for interviews, as is Dale
Bishop, a former Columbia University professor who is the Middle East
specialist for the Disciples and the UCC.  To arrange an interview, phone the
contact persons at the top of this release, or phone Bishop in New York City at
(212) 870-2831.]

DISCNEWS - inbox for Disciples News Service, Office of Communication, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), PO Box 1986 Indianapolis, IN 46206, tele. (317) 635-3100, (DISCNEWS@ecunet.org) Wilma Shuffitt, News and Information Assistant; (CWILLIS@oc.disciples.org) Cliff Willis, Director of News and Information; (CMILLER@oc.disciples.org) Executive Director