Bishops issue letter opposing war on Iraq

By Tim Wheeler

This article was reprinted from the February 7, 1998 issue of the People's Weekly World. For subscription information see below. All rights reserved - may be used with PWW credits.

With U.S. military strikes against Iraq looming, 54 U.S. Catholic bishops wrote to President Clinton urging him to lift the economic sanctions on Iraq, refrain from military action and seek instead a diplomatic solution to the crisis.

A number of the bishops joined in a hunger strike to demonstrate their resolve and Detroit's Bishop Thomas Gumbleton announced that he would join a protest at the White House Feb. 12 against U.S. plans for an attack on Baghdad. In their letter to Clinton the bishops decried the estimated one million Iraqis, including 600,000 children, who have died from hunger and disease since the U.S.- enforced economic blockade was imposed in August 1990.

"Such counter-population warfare has been unequivocally condemned by the most authoritative teaching body of the Catholic Church, the Second Vatican Council," the letter stated. "In conscience, we urge you to call for the immediate lifting of the sanctions by the U.N. Security Council ... and to refrain from any military action in the current dispute."

The bishops requested a meeting with Clinton to discuss "the enormity of the horrible situation in Iraq." Kathleen Kelly, spokesperson for Voices in the Wilderness, a group that is working with the bishops told the World by phone from her Chicago office that they have not yet received an answer from the White House.

The sanctions were imposed in the name of forcing Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to cooperate with U.N. inspectors seeking to ferret out chemical, biological and nuclear weapons Iraq is alleged to have stockpiled. But Hussein has refused to cooperate, while unleashing ferocious repression against the democratic forces in Iraq, including the Communist Party of Iraq.

During its sixth Congress, held clandestinely in Iraq last July, the Iraqi CP "deplored the obstacles which both Saddam Hussein and the American administration" have placed in the path of the U.N.'s "Oil for Food" Resolution 986 adding that "this resolution is not a substitute for lifting the economic blockade from the people ... immediately, unconditionally and under the supervision of the United Nations."

The Iraqi Party statement called upon all democratic forces in Iraq to "mobilize ... for lifting the economic blockade ... salvation from the dictatorial regime ... establishing the united democratic federal Iraq," including "national reconciliation in the Kurdistan region." Blocking a victory for these democratic forces in Iraq is the overriding objective of Washington's strategy which seeks outright control of Iraq's enormous oil reserves.

On Capitol Hill, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R- Miss.) and Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) co- sponsored Senate Concurrent Resolution 71 that authorizes such sweeping military action against Iraq that the Washington Post compared it to the 1964 Tonkin Gulf Resolution which dragged the U.S. into Vietnam.

Sen. Max Cleland (D-Ga.), who lost both legs and an arm in Vietnam, told his colleagues, "I've been down that road before and I don't want to go down it again. My point here is that there should not be a rush to judgment ... as there was in the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution."

Nearly 50 people representing many peace organizations gathered at the United Methodist Building in Washington to hear eyewitness reports from recent visitors to Iraq and to speak out against the imminent U.S. attack. "We are all gearing up for the Feb. 12 demonstration at the White House," said Edith Villastrigo, veteran Washington representative of Women Strike for Peace. "There will be lobbying against 'S. Con. Res 71.' It is an open-ended resolution that allows them to go into Iraq," she said.

The U.S. war drive has met with resistance from Russia and France which have been working to achieve a diplomatic solution. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright met in Saudi Arabia with Crown Prince Saud al-Faisal but failed to get a clear endorsement of military action. Instead, a statement was released urging "all diplomatic means to resolve the current crisis."