Report on Colin Powell's UN Presentation by John Kim, FOR's Representative at the UN

And below: Resolution of the World Council of Churches: Church leaders united against war in Iraq

Greetings!

This is to report to you on today's Security Council meeting where Mr. Powell presented the U.S. evidences regarding Iraq's "deception."

Powell spoke about 90 minutes, mixed with some secretly recorded tapes of Iraqi Army, photos and stories of defectors.

At the end of his presentation, each member of the Security Council spoke for about seven minutes, and Ambassador Aldouri of Iraq spoke at the end.

As Mr. Powell admitted the day before, there was no "smoking gun" in his presentation. There was also no new evidences linking Iraq with Al Queda, aside from the stories already reported in the newspapers. In short, the evidences were not strong enough to convince other SC members that war is the only option.

From what I heard from the SC members, the only countries that clearly supported the US position were UK, Spain & Bulgaria. All other members wanted to give more time for the inspectors to do their work in Iraq.

In addition, the Iraqi Ambassador made a strong rebuttal, even though he was also given only seven minutes, against the US presentation. He said the UN inspectors conducted 570 inspections at 381 sites as of Feb. 4, and nothing significant were found. He also said that Iraq did not object to UN air surveillance flights: it is only asking the suspension of US/UK flights in the "no-fly zones" while UN surveillance flights take place. (In order to avoid firing on the UN planes)

He reaffirmed that "Iraq is free of WMD" and it has no relations with Al Queda. He welcomed back the UN Chief Inspectors to Iraq for further exchanges of information and consultation on Feb. 8 & 9. The UN Chief Inspectors are scheduled to report back to the SC on Feb. 14. It seems their report on that date will be crucial in determining the future course of action by the SC.

Today's SC meeting, presided by Germany, was quite long--lasting about four hours--but quite interesting, fair and transparent. It is also to be noted that Cameroon made a surprising proposal today by stating that the UN Secretary General should visit Iraq and meet Sadam Hussein to seek Iraq's full cooperation and avert the war. It is to be seen whether Mr. Annan will pay any attention to the suggestion.

Peace,

John Kim

U.N. Representative for FOR

Below is a resolution from WCC, which provides useful talking points regarding Iraq:

World Council of Churches Update UP-03-02
For Immediate Use 5 February 2002

Church leaders united against war in Iraq

Cf. WCC Press Release, PR-03-08 of 3 February 2003-02-05

Meeting in Berlin on 5 February 2003 to discuss a common response by churches to the threat of military action in Iraq, European church leaders issued the following statement.

The meeting was convened by the World Council of Churches (WCC) in consultation with the Conference of European Churches (CEC), the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA (NCCCUSA) and the Middle East Council of Churches, hosted by the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD).

1. As European church leaders, in consultation with councils of churches in the USA and the Middle East, we remain extremely concerned with the continued calls for military action against Iraq by the US and some European governments. As people of faith, our love of neighbour compels us to oppose war and to seek peaceful resolution of conflicts. As churches we pray for peace and freedom, justice and safety for the people of Iraq and in the Middle East as a whole. Such prayer obliges us to be instruments of peace.

2. We deplore the fact that the most powerful nations of this world again regard war as an acceptable instrument of foreign policy. This creates an international culture of fear, threat and insecurity.

3. We cannot accept the stated objectives of a war against Iraq, as laid out by these governments, in particular the US. Pre-emptive military strike and war as a means to change the regime of a sovereign state are immoral and in violation of the UN Charter. We appeal to the Security Council to uphold the principles of the UN Charter which strictly limit the legitimate use of military force and to refrain from creating negative precedence and lowering the threshold for using violent means to solve international conflicts.

4. We believe that military force is an inappropriate means to achieve disarmament of any Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. We insist that the carefully designed mechanisms of the UN weapons inspections be given the time needed to complete their work.

5. All UN member states have to comply with binding UN resolutions and resolve conflicts by peaceful means. Iraq can be no exception. We call on the Government of Iraq to destroy any weapons of mass destruction and related research and production facilities. Iraq must cooperate fully with UN weapons inspectors, and guarantee full respect of the civil and political, economic, social and cultural human rights for all its citizens. The people in Iraq must be given hope that there are alternatives to both dictatorship and war.

6. A war would have unacceptable humanitarian consequences, including large-scale displacement of people, the breakdown of state functions, the possibility of civil war and major unrest in the whole region. The plight of Iraqi children and the unnecessary deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis over the past 12 years of sanctions regime weighs heavily on our hearts. In the present situation, we strongly affirm long-standing humanitarian principles of unconditional access to people in need.

7. We further caution against the potential social, cultural, and religious as well as diplomatic long-term consequences of such a war. Further fueling the fires of violence that are already consuming the region will only exacerbate intense hatred strengthening extremist ideologies and breeding further global instability and insecurity. As church leaders in Europe we have a moral and pastoral responsibility to challenge xenophobia in our own countries as well as allay the fears of many in the Muslim world, that the so called Western Christianity is against their culture, religion and values. We should seek co-operation for peace, justice and human dignity.

8. All governments, in particular the members of the Security Council have the responsibility to consider the whole complexity of this issue. All peaceful and diplomatic means to compel Iraq to comply with UN Security Council resolutions have not been exhausted.

9. For us it is a spiritual obligation, grounded in God's love for all humanity, to speak out against war in Iraq. Through this message we send a strong sign of solidarity and support, to churches in Iraq, the Middle East and in the USA. We pray that God will guide those responsible to take decisions based on careful reflections, moral principles and high legal standards. We invite all churches to join us in this act of witness and to pray for and encourage participation of all people in the struggle for a peaceful resolution of this conflict."

List of participants

Rev. Dr Konrad Raiser, general secretary of the World Council of Churches

Rev. Dr Keith Clements, general secretary of the Council of European Churches

Prases Manfred Kock, president of the Council of the Evangelischen Kirche in Deutschland (EKD)

Bishop Dr. Walter Klaiber, head of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Christlicher Kirchen in Deutschland (ACK) and Evangelical-Methodist Church (Germany)

Rev. Dr Jean-Arnold de Clermont, president of the Protestant Federation of France

Bishop Mag. Herwig Sturm, Evangelical Church of the Augsburg and Helvetic Confessions in Austria

Rev. Thomas Wipf, president of the Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches

Bishop Jonas Jonson, Bishop of the Church of Sweden and Rev. Kjell Jonasson, Church of Sweden

Rev. Canon Dr Trond Bakkevig, Church of Norway

Archbishop Jukka Parma, Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland

Bischop Karsten Nissen, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark

Dr. Alison Elliot, Church of Scotland and Churches Together in Scotland (ACTS)

Rev Arie W. van der Plas, Reformed Churches in the Netherlands and Uniting Protestant Churches in the Netherlands

Archbishop Feofan, Russian Orthodox Church, archbishop of Berlin and Germany

Bishop Athanasius of Achaja, Church of Greece

Rev. Dr. Nuhad Daoud Tomeh, representing the General Secretariat of the Middle East Council of Churches

Dr. Bob Edgar, general secretary, National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA

James Winkler, general secretary, General Board of Church and Society of the United Methodist Church, USA

Rev. Dr Rebecca Larson, executive director, Division for Church and Society, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, USA

Mr. Thor-Arne Pröis, director of Action by Churches Together (ACT) International, Geneva

WCC staff: Mr Peter Weiderud, director WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs

EKD Secretariat: Bishop Dr Rolf Koppe Rev. Dr Christa Grengel Rev. Dr Dagmar Heller