Pax Christi Metro DC/Baltimore

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 nonexistent 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 withdrawal 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 casualties 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 enemies, put away the sword, forgive, blessed are the peacemakers.

Since the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the Catholic Church’s response to the occupation has been ambiguous and equivocating. Like many others, 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, 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 in 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 withdrawal 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—cardinals, bishops religious, priests and laity, and for all people of faith, to speak with a clear and prophetic voice and call for an immediate withdrawal 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 reconstruction 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 administration’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 arrested 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 warmaking in Iraq and Afghanistan and become God’s nonviolent peacemakers!