wfn.org | UCC/Regional church leaders urge caution on Iraq

["Barb Powell"<powellb@ucc.org>]

Feb. 20, 1998

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

Regional church leaders urge caution on Iraq
                                      
         ORLANDO, Fla.-- Regional ministers and other leaders of the
United Church of Christ today (Feb. 20) added their voices to those
calling upon the United States to take all possible measures to avoid
using military force against Iraq.
        At their annual meeting in Atlanta, 37 conference ministers from
throughout the United States were joined by several national church
executives and the presidents of four  UCC seminaries in signing a letter
that was faxed to President Clinton.
        "As followers of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, and as people of
conscience, we cannot accept military attack and annihilation as options
under these circumstances," the church leaders said in the letter.  "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."
        Earlier in the week, a similar letter had been sent to Clinton by the
Rev. Paul H. Sherry of Cleveland, president of the UCC, and the Rev.
Richard L. Hamm of Indianapolis, general minister and president of the
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), the UCC's "ecumenical partner"
denomination.
        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.  It has 38 regional bodies and one
nongeographical body that are known as "conferences."  In the UCC's
system of governance,  local churches and members are free to hold
opinions that differ from statements made by regional and national
leaders or bodies.
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[EDITORS: Here is the full text of the letter sent to President Clinton 
Feb. 20 by United Church of Christ conference ministers, national
church executives and seminary presidents.]

        "We, the undersigned leaders in various settings of the United
Church of Christ, write to you as you ponder the use of military force
against Iraq.  As followers of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, and as
people of conscience, we cannot accept military attack and annihilation
as options under these circumstances.  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 moral responsibility 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.  In addition, 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.
        "In the words of our colleagues in the National Council of the
Churches of Christ in the USA:
        "Pursue diplomacy.  Urge Iraqi compliance.  Don't start a war! 
Offer aid and healing. Build peace.
        "Our prayers are with you, Mr. President, as you make this critical
decision."
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