[Announce] Fw: A Call to the Catholic Church To End the U.S. War in Iraq from Art Laffin and the Dorothy Day CW in Wash DC - pass on to Bishops and Priest and other fellow Catholics

[Robert Waldrop]

> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Art Laffin DC CW 
> <artlaffin(at)hotmail.com>  Replace (at) with @
> Date: Mar 23, 2007 3:38 PM

> A CALL TO THE CATHOLIC CHURCH TO RENOUNCE THE 
> SIN OF WAR AND EMBRACE
> THE GOSPEL OF NONVIOLENCE AS THE U.S. OCCUPATION 
> OF IRAQ ENTERS ITS
> FIFTH YEAR
>
>
> by Art Laffin, Dorothy Day Catholic Worker in 
> Wash. DC
>
>
>
> 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 
> its occupation.
> Moreover, the administration is contriving 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 attacking Iran! The Administration is also 
> asserting
> unsubtantiated claims that the Iranian 
> government is supplying arms to
> Iraqi insurgents. Although many in Congress 
> oppose the
> Administration's plans for continued occupation, 
> Congress is reluctant
> to
> cut off funding for the war because it does not 
> want to be seen as
> "not supporting the troops." And many in 
> Congress have been silent
> about a U.S. attack on Iran. It appears now that 
> the adminstration may
> be able to pass its proposed $630 billion 
> military budget, or a
> slightly scaled down budget, which includes 
> supplemental aid for Iraq
> and Afghanistan.
>
>
> As the casualties continue to mount for Iraqis 
> and U.S. soldiers, as
> the violence in Iraq continues to spiral out of 
> control,  and as a
> possible new attack of Iran looms on the 
> horizon, "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. 
> In a December 24, 2004
> NCR article 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, U.S./UN-led 
> economic sanctions,
> and now invasion, has destroyed Iraq and caused 
> a total of an
> estimated 2 million deaths. Moreover, the 
> bishops did not call on the
> U.S. to repent for these crimes. Rather, the 
> 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 injured
> 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 profiteerring of companies like 
> Bechtel and Haliburton.
>
>
> During this Holy Season of Lent, we recall 
> Jesus' proclamation: "The
> reign of God is at hand. Repent and believe in 
> the Gospel!" Thus Lent
> is a special time for personal and societal 
> conversion, a time to turn
> away from the idolatry, violence and evil in our 
> hearts and in our
> world. 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 and for all people of faith 
> and goodwill to
> unequivocally resist the adminstration's
> "long-war" plan and policies of 
> preemptive/preventive warmaking. It is
> time for the U.S. to renounce its aspirations of 
> empire and global
> domination and instead seek to build the beloved 
> community.
>
>
> 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 time to demand an end to U.S. threats to 
> attack Iran and instead
> hold peace talks with 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, and 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
> Israeli occupation of Palestine, the root cause 
> of the
> Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
>
>
> It is time to acknowledge complicity in the U.S. 
> oil addiction,
> embrace an ethic of responsible stewardship, and 
> simplify our
> life-style.
>
>
> It is time for all Catholics and Christians to 
> take the Pax Christi
> "Vow of Nonviolence."
>
>
> Encouraging signs of hope abound. More soldiers 
> are protesting 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." And on March 16, thousands 
> of Christians from
> across the U.S. came to Washington to pray and 
> act for peace at the
> White House to 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. 
> And on March 20, 44
> people were arrested on Wall Street.
>
>
> The reign of God is at hand. Let us renounce and 
> resist the sin of war
> and become God's nonviolent peacemakers!
>
>
> (Art Laffin is a member of the Dorothy Day 
> Catholic Worker in Washington, DC)
>