[Announce] Fw: an Urgent Message fro Art Laffin to Catholic Democrates

[Robert Waldrop]

> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Art Laffin <artlaffin at hotmail.com>
> Date: Jul 10, 2007
>
> Dear Friends,
>
> If anyone can send this article to the Catholic 
> Democrats who are
> enlisting the Church's support to end the war in 
> Iraq I'd be very
> grateful.
>
> In Christ's peace,
> Art Laffin,
> Dorothy Day Catholic Worker
> 503 Rock Creek Church Rd NW
> Wash. DC 20010
> 202-882-9649
> <artlaffin at hotmail.com>
>
> A CALL TO THE CATHOLIC CHURCH TO END THE WAR IN 
> IRAQ AND EMBRACE THE GOSPEL OF NONVIOLENCE
>
> by Art Laffin
>
>
> As the U.S. occupation of Iraq enters its fifth 
> year, the vast
> majority of the Iraqi people, and a majority of 
> the American people,
> are demanding an end to the U.S. occupation of 
> Iraq. Still, the Bush
> Administration remains committed to continuing 
> this immoral and
> illegal occupation. Moreover, the administration 
> has contrived a new
> threat that mirror's the lies that were 
> propagated for the Iraq
> invasion--Iran's nonexistant nuclear threat--to 
> justify not only
> remaining in Iraq, but also pursuing regime 
> change in Iran!
>
>
> Although many democrats in Congress oppose the 
> Administration's plans
> for continued occupation, the Democratic-led 
> Congress voted on May 24
> for $120 billion in supplemental aid to continue 
> the wars in Iraq and
> Afghanistan and abandon a timetable for 
> withdrawl of U.S. forces from
> Iraq, thereby putting its stamp of approval on 
> these wars. It now
> appears certain that the administration will be 
> able to pass its $649
> billion FY2008 military budget instead of of 
> using this money to end
> poverty and meet urgent human needs.
>
>
> As the U.S. continues its occupation, which now 
> includes increased
> bombings raids of Iraqi neighborhoods, as the 
> violence in Iraq
> continues to spiral out of control, as the 
> casulaties continue to
> mount, and as the U.S. continues to threaten 
> Iran,  "What would Jesus
> do?", is the question Christians must ask. The 
> Gospel mandate is
> clear: love one another, love your enmies, put 
> away the sword,
> forgive, blessed are the peacemakers.
>
>
> Since the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the Catholic 
> Church response to the
> occupation has been ambiguous and equivocating. 
> Like many tohers, I
> commended the bishops and the Vatican for 
> speaking out against the US
> invasion of Iraq. However, the bishops have been
> virtually silent about the war until their 
> statement issued at the
> November 2006 bishops conference.  When I read 
> this statement about
> Iraq I was deeply saddened. While I commend the 
> bishops for
> acknowledging the human and economic cost that 
> the war has caused,
> there was no real acknowledgment of the the 
> unspeakable crimes the
> U.S. government and military has committed in 
> Iraq. The bishops did
> not address the fact that, according to The 
> Lancet, a leading British
> medical journal, an estimated 654,000 Iraqis 
> have died as a direct
> result of the invasion. It did not address the 
> fact that U.S., as a
> result of 16 years of U.S. bombings, including 
> the use of highly
> radioactive depleted uranium weapons, 
> U.S./UN-led economic sanctions,
> and now invasion, has destroyed Iraq and caused 
> an estimated 2 million
> deaths. Furthermore, a the most recent Save the 
> Children study
> declared that one in eight Iraqi children died 
> of disease or violence
> in 2005--that is 122,000 Iraqi children died 
> before reaching their
> fifth birthday. More than half of these deaths 
> were among newborn
> babies in the first month of life. Moreover, the 
> bishops did not call
> on the U.S. to repent for these crimes. Rather, 
> the U.S. Conference of
> Catholic Bishops (USCCB) declared in their 
> statement: "Our nation's
> military forces should remain in Iraq only as 
> long as their presence
> contributes to a responsible transition."
>
>
>
> I ask: How can the U.S., which has committed 
> genocidal war crimes in
> Iraq, ever bring about a responsible transition 
> in Iraq?
>
>
>
> The Catholic Church is complicit in the death 
> and suffering of Iraqis
> and U.S. soldiers because of its failure to 
> unequivocally condemn this
> war as illegal and immoral. I agree with Bishop 
> John Michael Botean,
> who said in a pastoral letter on March 7, 2003, 
> "that any direct
> participation of this war against the people of 
> Iraq is objectively
> grave evil, a matter of mortal sin." Before the 
> invasion, the USCCB
> should have said that no Catholic soldier should 
> participate in this
> war, pay taxes to prosecute the war, or make 
> weapons to be used in the
> war. Just think of how many lives could have 
> been saved if the Church
> took this prophetic stand! How many deaths will 
> it take till we know
> that too many people have died? I mourn all the 
> war-dead, Iraqi and
> U.S, as well as the countless people who have 
> been maimed and scarred
> for life.
>
>
>
> Moreover, the bishops did not once in their 
> statement mention the oil
> politics that was really the driving force for 
> the invasion. It did
> not mention the war profiteering of the arms 
> industries. It did not
> mention the profiteering of companies like 
> Bechtel and Haliburton.
>
>
>
> It is a time to renew our commitment to do what 
> God requires: to
> embrace the way of nonviolence, justice and 
> peace. All life is sacred.
> It is time to repent for our complicity for the 
> sin of war. Not one
> more person should suffer or die from U.S. 
> warmaking and military
> occupation.
>
>
> It is painfully clear that continuing the U.S. 
> occupation will only
> result in more death and suffering for the Iraqi 
> people and U.S.
> soldiers and their families. It is time for all 
> Christians, including
> church leaders, to speak with a clear, bold and 
> prophetic voice. It is
> time to call for an immediate withdrawl of all 
> U.S. soldiers,
> intelligence personnel and private contractors 
> from Iraq and
> Afghanistan. It is time to cut off all 
> war-funding and close all U.S.
> military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is 
> time to investigate and
> demand the dissolution of Blackwater, the secret 
> mercenary force hired
> by the U.S. military in Iraq. It is time for 
> Catholics--Cardinal's,
> Bishop's Religious, Priest's and Laity, and for 
> all people of faith,
> to speak with a clear and prophetic voice and 
> call for an immediate
> withdrawl of all U.S. soldiers, including 
> intelligence personnel and
> private contractors from Iraq and afghanistan. 
> It is time to call for
> a cut-off of all war-funding and to close all 
> U.S. military bases in
> iraq and Afghanistan.
>
>
> It is time to call on all soldiers, our brothers 
> and sisters, to
> refuse orders to fight and kill, and to actively 
> support all military
> refusers and conscientious objectors. (Hundreds 
> have signed "Refuse to
> Fight-Refuse to Kill" statement. See 
> www.jonahhouse.org)
>
>
>
> It is time to make reparations to Iraq and to 
> call for a "surge" in
> recontructruction funds for Iraq and 
> Afghanistan, with a special
> proviso that no U.S. contractor profit from such 
> reconstruction. it is
> also time to investigate and demand the 
> dissolution of Blackwater, the
> secret U.S. -hired mercenary force in Iraq.
>
>
> It is time for catholics and all people of faith 
> to renounce the
> adminstration's "long-war" plan, polices of 
> preventive/preemptive
> warmaking, and U.S. aspirations of empire and 
> global domination.
>
>
>
> It is time to demand an end to U.S. threats to 
> destablize Iran.
>
>
> It is time to dismantle the entire U.S. nuclear 
> stockpile as an
> example to the world that we are serious about 
> nuclear proliferation
> and abolishing all weapons of mass destruction 
> from the face of the
> earth.
>
>
> It is also time to condemn, as morally 
> reprehensible, the sin of
> torture, to call for the repeal of the Military 
> Commissions Act, and
> the closing of the Guantanamo U.S. military 
> prison and all other
> secret U.S. torture and detention centers.
>
>
> It is time to work for a just peace in the 
> Middle East and ending the
> U.S-backed Israeli occupation of Palestine, the 
> root cause of the
> Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
>
>
> It is time to acknowledge complicity in the U.S. 
> oil addiction,
> simplify our life-style and commit ourselves to 
> reversing the global
> climate crisis so that our planet will survive.
>
>
> It is time for all Catholics and Christians to 
> take the Pax Christi
> "Vow of Nonviolence."
>
>
> Encouraging signs of hope abound. Groups like 
> Iraq Veterans Against
> the War and Military Families Speak Out are 
> actively opposing the war.
> Many people are engaging in nonviolent civil 
> resistance actions across
> the U.S., including at congressional offices as 
> part of the Voices for
> Creative Nonviolence inspired campaign called 
> "The Occupation
> Project." Since early February over 300 people 
> have been arrersted in
> nonviolent protests in congressional offices in 
> 33 states calling for
> an end to funding for the Iraq war. And on March 
> 16, thousands of
> Christians from  across the U.S. came to 
> Washington to pray for peace
> and call for an end to the U.S. occupation of 
> Iraq, and 222 were
> arrested at the White House. On March 17, 
> thousands more protested at
> the Pentagon. Also on March 20, 44 people were 
> arrested on Wall
> Street. There have also been ongoing protests in 
> Washington and
> elsewhere calling on Congress and Bush to end 
> the war.
>
>
> "The reign of God is at hand, repent and believe 
> in the Gospel, Jesus
> declares! Let us renounce and resist the sin of 
> U.S war making in Iraq
> and Afghanistan and become God's nonviolent 
> peacemakers!
>
>
> (This article has been slightly revised from a 
> previous version that
> was sent out in April.
> Art Laffin, a member of the Dorothy Day Catholic 
> Worker in Washington, DC)
>
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