wfn.org | Episcopalians: Presiding Bishop's statement on military action against Iraq

[dmack@episcopalchurch.org]

September 6, 2002

2002-202

Episcopalians: Presiding Bishop's statement on military 
action against Iraq

September 6, 2002

Our nation is now engaged in a debate about the wisdom of 
military action designed to remove Saddam Hussein from power. 
The choices made now will set in motion events that will 
reverberate around the world, for good or ill.	In this grave 
time I encourage President Bush to continue to listen with an 
open mind to those who articulate very different positions from 
his own, voices within our nation and from our allies and others 
around the world.

The problem of Iraq admits no easy solution. However, through 
diplomatic and multilateral initiatives, we can both serve our 
common interests and seek to contain the national security 
threats posed by Saddam Hussein's rule of Iraq. Our great nation 
now has the opportunity to express leadership in the world by 
forging a foreign policy that seeks to reconcile and heal the 
world's divisions. 

I believe it is becoming ever more clear that this is the way 
to proceed, rather than choosing a course that will immediately 
endanger the Iraqi civilian population and our own United States 
Forces, that will alienate many of our closest allies, and 
destabilize the Middle East. We will all be better served to see 
our national energies and resources expended in resolving the 
Israeli/Palestinian conflict, such that Israel finds security 
and peace with its neighbors and Palestinians achieve statehood.

Further, unilateral military action would surely inflame the 
passions of millions, particularly in the Arab world, setting in 
motion cycles of violence and retaliation. Such action would 
undermine our firm national intent to eradicate global 
terrorism. As well, it would further strain tenuous 
relationships that exist between the United States and other 
nations. 

The question for us now must be: what is our role in the 
community of nations? I believe we have the capacity within us 
to help lead our world into the way of justness and peace. The 
freedoms we enjoy as citizens of the United States oblige us to 
attend not only to our own welfare, but to the wellbeing of the 
world around us. A super power, especially one that declares 
itself to be "under God," must exercise the role of super 
servant. Our nation has an opportunity to reflect the values and 
ideals that we espouse by focusing upon issues of poverty, 
disease and despair, not only within our own nation but 
throughout the global community of which we are a part. 

The House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church has called the 
Church to the costly work of waging not war but reconciliation. 
This means addressing the root causes of the anger toward the 
West and the United States in particular, and building new 
understandings between Jews, Muslims, and Christians - all of us 
the children of Abraham.  The Church's governing board, the 
Executive Council, also voted  in June to "oppose unilateral 
military action against Iraq," citing its October, 2001 
resolution "to promote the eradication of terrorism through 
justice and reconciliation abroad."

The President and his Administration need our prayers as they 
seek ways to address the challenges that face our troubled and 
fragile world. I pray that compassion and reconciliation and 
healing may become the realities of our common life, thereby 
reflecting God's own passionate desire for the life of the world 
God sent his Son to save.

------

The Most Rev. Frank T. Griswold 
 Presiding Bishop and 
Primate 
The Episcopal Church, USA