[Announce] "Concerning the petition drive by Catholics for an End to the War in Iraq" thoughts and clarification from Brian Terrell, Maloy IA CW

[Robert Waldrop]

> From: Brian Terrell <terrellcpm at yahoo.com>
> Date: Jul 27, 2007
>
> Concerning the petition drive by Catholics for 
> an End to the War in Iraq
>
> Catholic Workers have been invited by Catholics 
> United, Pax Christi
> USA and NETWORK, A National Catholic Social 
> Justice Lobby to join a
> collaborative petition drive called Catholics 
> for an End to the War in
> Iraq, to add our "voice(s) to the growing number 
> of Catholics calling
> for a responsible end to the war in Iraq" by 
> following links on the
> website http://www.catholicsforanend.org/ to 
> sign a petition that
> reads.
>
> "AS A CATHOLIC I stand in support of an 
> immediate and responsible end
> to the Iraq war. I ask our nation's leaders to 
> commit to diplomacy,
> reconstruction, and responsible withdrawal of 
> U.S. troops."
>
 As a Catholic Worker I offer my response to the 
invitation to sign
> this petition:
>
> "Our Catholic faith is rich in tradition and 
> wisdom," Catholics for an
> End to the War in Iraq remind us. "Now, more 
> than ever, we as American
> Catholics need to act on our faith to end the 
> war in Iraq."
>
> I emphatically agree on this and so am deeply 
> concerned about the
> language of a petition from Catholics for an end 
> to the war in Iraq
> without acknowledging that the war is a sin that 
> calls for repentance,
> especially considering how deeply the American 
> Catholic Church is
> implicated by its tacit acquiescence to the 
> murder that continues
> there.
>
> I Applaud and would want to join in any effort 
> aimed at calling for an
> immediate end of the war in Iraq, but am also 
> troubled by the use of
> the word "responsible" used twice in this 
> petition, once to modify the
> word "immediate," once to modify the word 
> "withdrawal."  My
> conversation with James Salt of Catholics for an 
> End to the War in
> Iraq was cordial but did not make me any less 
> apprehensive about this
> petition drive.
>
> There is no "responsible" end to the Iraq war 
> except immediate,
> unconditional and total withdrawal of US troops. 
> At best, the word
> "responsible" is redundant- the demands made by 
> the words "immediate"
> and "withdrawal" stand very well alone with no 
> need for modification.
> The word "responsible" can be confusing and this 
> petition might be
> seen as supportive of those "antiwar" 
> politicians who call for a
> "responsible transition," which seems to have 
> come to mean that the
> U.S. might partially withdraw from Iraq when the 
> Iraqis hand over
> rights to their oil revenues to U.S. 
> corporations forever; when their
> army and police are trained and in place to 
> "keep order", a portion of
> U.S. troops might redeploy elsewhere.
>
> It is not "responsible" for an aggressor nation 
> to dictate terms, set
> benchmarks, for its withdrawal from a nation 
> that it has unjustly
> attacked and so brutally occupies, yet this is 
> how the word is
> commonly understood when applied to proposals to 
> withdraw from Iraq.
> Even the U.S. Catholic Bishops' Conference 
> strangely seems to accept
> that the "illegal, unjust and immoral" (John 
> Paul II) war in Iraq must
> be prolonged until the Iraqi people, after more 
> months or even more
> years under U.S. domination, somehow learn from 
> their pillagers and
> tormentors to govern themselves and live 
> peaceably together.
>
> Yes, "we as American Catholics need to act on 
> our faith to end the war
> in Iraq" but to do so we need to accept that 
> while we are responsible
> to a large extent for the carnage in Iraq, the 
> U.S. government has
> nothing to offer beyond paying necessary 
> reparations to the rebuilding
> of that country.
>
> "How can the U.S. which has committed genocidal 
> war crimes in Iraq,
> ever bring about a responsible transition in 
> Iraq?" Art Laffin asks in
> the recent edition of the Dorothy Day CW House 
> newsletter.
>
> These critical times, "now more than ever," call 
> American Catholics to
> speak out and to act more clearly than the 
> opportunity that this
> petition offers.
>
> My prayers and solidarity go with those who feel 
> called to sign and
> promote it, even as I find that I cannot. I 
> sincerely hope that it
> bears fruit here and in Iraq, it the hearts of 
> those who sign it and
> in the hearts of those to whom it is addressed.
>
> Brian Terrell,a Strangers and Guest Catholic 
> Worker
> Maloy Iowa
> (641) 785-2321
> terrellcpm at yahoo.com