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Viewpoint
Peace message from Baghdad
The following was read aloud by the Iraq Peace Journey at a
prayer service at St. Joseph’s Chaldean Church Dec. 18 in Baghdad. The
service was planned by members of the Iraqi Christian community in Baghdad,
including three bishops.
To all people of good will in the United States:
We U.S. religious leaders gather with our Iraqi brothers and
sisters to pray for the common peace that we all desire. As women and men of
faith, we have spent 10 days in Iraq during this season of preparation for
Christmas. We have met people like ourselves, people who hunger for peace. The
Iraqi people have welcomed us with open arms and begged us to share with you
the reality of their struggle.
We implore you, our fellow citizens of the United States, to look
into the eyes of the people in Iraq. See the Jesuit-trained doctor who can
barely contain his despair and the Muslim mother who grieves for her dying son.
Listen to the taxicab driver who fears for the safety of his family, the
Catholic sister who cares for pregnant mothers, and the orphaned children who
sleep fitfully at night waiting for the sound of bombs. These are the people of
Iraq -- people who share our hopes and dreams for a peaceful world. All they
want is to live with dignity in this ancient land of arid beauty.
But the Iraqi people have suffered for the past 12 years under the
most comprehensive sanctions in modern history. Water and sewage treatment
facilities are not functioning due to the lack of spare parts, and children die
of water-born illnesses. Hospitals are crippled by old and broken-down
machinery. Depleted uranium from U.S. munitions is linked to a 400 percent
increase in the cancer rate in southern Iraq -- and this at a time when
sanctions deny the people critical medicines needed for treatment of cancer and
other diseases. The Iraqi people live lives of determined endurance, but many
have revealed their anxiety and desperation. They ask us, “Why is this
happening? Will sanctions end? Why can’t we have peace?”
These are the people our government is preparing to
sacrifice as “collateral damage” in an unconscionable war. As we
speak, Iraqi people live in fear of an attack that could happen any day.
People of good will, we who live in the United States also
know what it means to live in fear. We fear for the future of our families and
our children. We fear the unpredictable violence of terrorism. We dread the
weapons of mass destruction that exist in many nations, including our
own, and that threaten the future of our entire planet.
Our government suggests that war is the answer to our fears.
But war will never protect us -- it will endanger the entire human
family. A war against the people of Iraq will slaughter thousands of
innocent men, women and children in a land already devastated by sanctions. A
war could also kill and injure countless young Americans. And a war will
unleash violent repercussions and terrorist acts that could destroy our world.
War is not the answer. We must seek a path to peace.
Therefore, people of good will, join us in insisting that our
government stop this madness and commit to a path of active nonviolent
resolution. We as ordinary people can reach out to our Iraqi brothers and
sisters, who are people like ourselves. Together we can support the work of the
United Nations and other international efforts to build peace. Together we can
work to create a world free of weapons of mass destruction, a world free of
sanctions, violence and war. Together we can build a world where our voices
speak peace, peace for all people. Then we will witness the words of the
psalmist, “Mercy and faithfulness will meet, justice and peace will
embrace. … Justice shall march before us and peace shall follow in our
steps” (Psalm 85).
Join us in prayer and action with all people of good will
who yearn for this promise to flourish in our times.
In peace we pray,
Iraq Peace Journey: U.S. Religious Leaders Delegation
David Robinson, Erie, Pa., national director of Pax Christi
USA; Mercy Sr. Kathy Thornton, Washington, national coordinator of NETWORK, a
national Catholic social justice lobby; Maryknoll Fr. Roy Bourgeois, Columbus,
Ga., national coordinator of the School of the Americas Watch; Sr. Simone
Campbell of the Servants of the Blessed Sacrament, Sacramento, Calif., lawyer,
executive director of JERICHO, an interfaith social justice lobby ; Maryknoll
Sr. Lil Mattingly, Maryknoll, N.Y.; Dominican Sr. Beth Murphy, Springfield,
Ill., communications coordinator, Dominican Sisters of Springfield Ill.; Fr.
John Grathwohl, Kalamazoo, Mich., diocesan priest; Sheila Provencher, South
Bend, Ind., free-lance writer and speaker, lay minister; Mary Trotochaud,
Western Massachusetts, member of the national advisory board of School of the
Americas Watch; Chuck Quilty, Rock Island, Ill., co-founder, Voices in the
Wilderness; Rick McDowell, Western Massachusetts, accompanied 14 delegations to
Iraq, including an international delegation of Nobel Peace laureates.
National Catholic Reporter, January 10,
2003
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