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Friends of the Fellowship,

Is this the time for you to make the same response to what may well be one of the great atrocities of world history?

We could almost wonder whether President Bush thinks he can get Florida judges to appoint the head of Iraq, also.

Economic sanctions have already killed a million in that land through impure drinking water, disease, and hunger. Most of them are young children with weak immune systems.

The last time a million civilians died from hunger and disease by someone's deliberate design was in the Siege of Leningrad during World War II. It was a war crime. A crime against humanity.

Who said so? The United States of America. We put a German general on trial at Nuremberg for leading that siege.

And now we 've essentially done the same thing. The U.S., sad to say, has been the power behind the sanctions. And that's not enough? Next, bomb these hurting people ?

We've already used a weapon of mass destruction against the people of Iraq. This is not speculation but past and present reality.

Weapons of mass destruction are something horrible in anyone's hands. And our country's hands are full of them.

Are Iraq's?

Three years ago, someone met with FOR staff and gave this answer:

"Does Iraq possess militarily viable biological or chemical weapons? The answer is a resounding 'NO!' Can Iraq produce chemical weapons on a meaningful scale? 'NO!' Can Iraq produce biological weapons on a meaningful scale? 'NO!' Ballistic missiles? 'NO!' It is 'NO' across the board. From a qualitative standpoint, Iraq has been disarmed."

The one who spoke those words to us was Scott Ritter, former chief United Nations Arms Inspector in Iraq. "Former" because he had resigned from UNSCOM in pro- test. An officer in the United States Marine Corps., Ritter did not agree with FOR on everything. But he said more clearly and authoritatively than we could have that the talk of weapons of mass destruction was a pretext for a determination to topple Saddam Hussein.

Indeed, then Secretary of State Madeleine Albright had publicly said in 1997 that the economic sanctions would continue as long as Saddam was in power, no matter what happened with the rumored weapons.

And now. President Bush has been adding the horrors of warfare to his repertoire of threats to remove Saddam Hussein.

Among other things, doing so means invading Baghdad. Or perhaps "destroying it in order to save it," as in Vietnam days. Baghdad is presently occupied by many Iraqi troops, by many anti-aircraft batteries, and incidentally (or should we say "collaterally"?) by about the same civilian population as Los Angeles, only more concentrated.

Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld was quoted in The New York Times as saying that air power alone (emphasis ours) would not be sufficient to remove Hussein. Along these lines, we have learned that processes are being fashioned for a massive call-up of U.S. military reserves, to kill and be killed on the ground, perhaps again, as in the Gulf War, burying alive with bulldozers retreating Iraqi soldiers.

Here at FOR, we're reconsidering our belief that draft inductions are unlikely to resume. It now rather seems likely that that sick, grim word, "replacements," would require, in Pentagon logic, conscription. If so, we must be ready to counsel caringly and responsibly the large numbers whose consciences will not let them serve. We've already begun planning for this task, likely to be a large one, and apt to confront our young men on very short notice.

This is only one of the ways that a massive, loud, clear, faith-grounded, persistent, unflinching, nonviolent "NO!" is going to be and must be our response.

And we think you want to join that chorus!

Saddam Hussein is cruel, despotic, and oppressive. And twelve years ago, he invaded another nation. That act was considered wrong by the United Nations, by all our country's major allies, and by just about everyone else in the world. (Notice that, Mr. President?) But now Kuwait and Iraq are normalizing relationships and living in peace with each other.

This world contains quite a few national leaders who are not our favorites by any means. But mass slaughter to change them is just not a remotely defensible answer.

And unless President Bush really thinks his Florida judges can appoint Saddam's successor, it's not at all likely to be someone very different. Observers close to the scene have told us that the five or six men close in line to succeed Saddam are basically cut from the same cloth.

International law, the United Nations charter, and the clear testimony of most nations of the world, all forbid invading another land to control its choice of leadership, or to confront a hypothetical future threat.

And it all is rather hypothetical. Last May, the U.S. State Department published a compilation of terrorist activity across the globe. No mention of Iraq in it. No evidence of Iraqi involvement in the awful September 11 attacks.

"No" is the word that must now be whispered in the soul, shouted from the rooftops, declared to our groups and contacts, proclaimed from our pulpits, taught in our schools and colleges, and find its way into the media even if many others rather rush to conform.

And while we don't know this yet, special and careful help may be needed for all whose consciences may have to speak that word to draft boards and military superiors, perhaps on very short lead time.

Please be apart of that "NO!"

• Tell President Bush.
• Tell your Congresspersons.
• Tell your congregation's clergy and lay leaders.
• Tell your newspaper editor(s). Copy quotes from this letter, if you'd like.
• Tell us, at FOR.

And help us. Funds are needed ...

• to meet an expanding budget this fiscal year.
• to help with unbudgeted costs from deportation of our last Middle East peacemaking delegation.
• to bring nonviolence training to more grassroots than ever.
• to prepare for helping in massive crises of conscience if draft inductions resume.
• to keep our Fellowship of Reconciliation growing quantitatively and qualitatively, as we'd all like.

Click here if you are able to make a donation to this cause

At our National Conference/Quadrennial IFOR meeting last June, just before we went our ways we all stood in a huge circle, joined hands, and Dorothy Cotton and Bill Anderson led us in singing:

We are building up a new world.

We are building up a new world.

We are building up a new world.

Builders must be strong. Rise, shine, give God glory.

Fairly simple thoughts. But so moving.

And we are building. Even in the midst of all the world's Bushes and Husseins.

And we count on each of you.

And be strong. In your lives and contacts. In your own personal growth. Together in the Fellowship. And in the beckoning future.

Sincerely,

Patricia Clark
FOR National Coordinator

 

©2002 Fellowship of Reconciliation