[Peace-discuss] Fwd: [indict-nato] Fw: Fw: [pgs-l] Re: Opposition to Iraq War]
manni at snafu.de
manni at snafu.de
Mon Oct 21 18:07:30 CDT 2002
>
> > Finally, it appears that citizens of the US are speaking out.Ed Daniel
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: B Birkett
> > To: narya at sympatico.ca ; PGS List NationalCc: IPPNW conferenceSent:
> > Sunday, October 20, 2002 7:16 PMSubject: [pgs-l] Re: Opposition to Iraq
> > War
> > Best news I've heard for awhile. I posted this on our church bulletin
> > board this a.m.BB
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Dr. Neil Arya
> > To: PGS List National
> > Cc: IPPNW conference
> > Sent: Sunday, October 20, 2002 5:14 AM
> > Subject: Opposition to Iraq War
> > http://www.observer.co.uk/iraq/story/0,12239,815693,00.html Iraq
> > war 'unjustifiable', says Bush's church head
> >
> > Ed Vulliamy in New York
> > Sunday October 20, 2002
> > The Observer
> >
> > President George Bush's own Methodist church has launched a
> > scathing attack on his preparations for war against Iraq,
> > saying they are 'without any justification according to the
> > teachings of Christ'.
> >
> > Jim Winkler, head of social policy for United Methodists,
> > added that all attempts at a 'dialogue' between the President
> > and his own church over the war had fallen on deaf ears at the
> > White House.
> >
> > His remarks came as the US continued its efforts to achieve
> > agreement on a UN resolution that would open the way for a
> > tough programme of weapons inspections in Iraq. France is
> > believed to be concerned that the current draft resolution
> > might still act as a trigger for military intervention without
> > a full Security Council debate if Iraq fails to comply.
> >
> > Winkler is general secretary of the Board of Church and
> > Society for the United Methodist church, which counts the
> > President and the Vice-President, Dick Cheney, among its
> > members. The church represents eight to nine million regular
> > churchgoers and is the third biggest in America.
> >
> > The Methodist Church, he says, is not pacifist, but 'rejects
> > war as a usual means of national policy'. Methodist scriptural
> > doctrine, he added, specifies 'war as a last resort, primarily
> > a defensive thing. And so far as I know, Saddam Hussein has
> > not mobilised military forces along the borders of the United
> > States, nor along his own border to invade a neighbouring
> > country, nor have any of these countries pleaded for our
> > assistance, nor does he have weapons of mass destruction
> > targeted at the United States'.
> >
> > Winkler said his church was 'keenly aware' that it counted the
> > President and his deputy among its members, and that he was
> > therefore 'frequently encouraged by others to be very careful
> > about how I say things'.
> >
> >
> >
> > http://www.observer.co.uk/iraq/story/0,12239,815413,00.html
> >
> >
> >
> > War plans under fire as even Bush heartland talks peace
> >
> > Dissent is coming from all quarters - even in Bush's own
> > church. Ed Vulliamy reports from Washington
> >
> > Sunday October 20, 2002
> > The Observer
> >
> > As the United States edges towards a possible war against
> > Iraq, a sudden torrent of concern has begun to flow - a revolt
> > by the intelligentsia spreading beyond the expected opposition
> > political circles and penetrating the heart of the media and
> > foreign policy establishment.
> >
> > From New York to the plains of Kansas, local and provincial
> > papers, glossy magazines, serious periodicals and heavyweight
> > national dailies have carried a range of articles and essays
> > that challenge not only the proposed war, but the notion and
> > conduct of unilateral American power in the world.
> >
> > But the most dramatic intervention comes from President George
> > Bush's own United Methodist church which launched a scathing
> > attack on his plans for war.
> >
> > Jim Winkler, responsible for the application of the church's
> > teachings to social policy, said war against Iraq was 'without
> > any justification according to the teachings of Christ'.
> >
> > After careful study of Christian doctrinal writings on Just
> > War, Winkler said he was 'told flatly' by the church's
> > scholars, 'that they simply did not apply to this situation'.
> >
> > Winkler said 'we keep the lines of communication open' to the
> > White House, but added: 'I regret that the lines have been one
> > way. I hope and pray that the President has considered the
> > church's teachings.'
> >
> > Winkler's sentiments have an impact beyond the usual circles
> > of dissent in a church-going society that, for the most part,
> > supports Bush.
> >
> > From the Bush heartland, from Kansas, where they teach the
> > creation instead of evolution in schools, come surprising
> > voices of objection. The Kansas City Star ran a long account
> > of 'voices of opposition from people of faith', quoting
> > Winkler at length, saying: 'United Methodists have a
> > particular duty to speak out against an unprovoked attack. It
> > is inconceivable that Jesus Christ would support this proposed
> > attack.'
> >
> > The latest salvo came on Friday from the unimpeachable New
> > York Review of Books in an article by one of the country's
> > leading commentators, Anthony Lewis, arguing that a regime
> > change in Iraq could be 'the first step towards a new American
> > imperium'. Meanwhile, wrote Lewis, 'the fear of looking
> > unpatriotic inhibits dissent'.
> >
> > The uprising of the intelligentsia has burst its banks. The
> > essayist Susan Sontag sounded the first alarm across the
> > opinion page of the New York Times on the poignant date of 10
> > September (the article was intended for the eleventh, but was
> > shifted to make way for one signed by the President).
> >
> > In it Sontag wrote: 'Real wars are not metaphors _ they have a
> > beginning and an end_ But the war that has been declared by
> > the Bush administration will never end. That is one sign that
> > it is not a war, but, rather, a mandate for expanding the use
> > of American power.'
> >
> > Then the theme spread. Most unexpectedly, the Atlanta
> > Journal-Constitution - published in the capital of the
> > conservative South - broadened the language of the debate with
> > an article by its leading commentator headlined 'Invasion
> > would mark the next step towards an American empire'.
> >
> > The author rejected claimed links between Iraq and al-Qaeda.
> > His article goes on to say that 'among the architects of this
> > would-be American empire are a group of people who now hold
> > key positions in the Bush administration: they envision the
> > creation and enforcement of a Pax Americana'.
> >
> > One of America's most illustrious historians of the Vietnam
> > and Reagan eras, Frances Fitzgerald, then took the stage in
> > the New York Review of Books to demand that Bush 'tell us
> > about the risks' involved in entwining a war against Iraq
> > around that against terror. 'The Bush administration has
> > clearly broken with internationalist premises accepted by
> > every other administration since World War II.'
> >
> > Fareed Zakaria is a pillar of the American foreign policy
> > establishment, an instinctive conservative, former confidante
> > of the National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and
> > previously editor of the journal Foreign Affairs .
> >
> > In the current New Yorker , Zakaria warns of the perils of a
> > unipolar world in which America is the sole power. He urges
> > the US to 'gain the legitimacy that comes through an
> > international consensus. Without this cloak of respectability
> > America will face a growing hostility around the world.'
> >
> > In the non-political Atlantic Monthly , James Fallows
> > meticulously dissects the various stages of an invasion of
> > Iraq, foreseeing dire consequences: 'If we can judge from past
> > wars, the effects we can't imagine when the fighting begins
> > will prove to be the ones that matter most.'
> >
> > The editorial sages at the American Prospect magazine, Paul
> > Starr, Robert Kuttner and Harold Meyerson, write what many
> > others are thinking, that 'the suspicion will not die that the
> > administration turned to Iraq for relief from a sharp decline
> > in its domestic political prospects, corporate scandals, and
> > the fall of the stock market'.
> >
> > Looking forward, the authors add: 'If the fighting turns ugly
> > and there are large numbers of civilian casualties - if we
> > have to level the very cities we say we are liberating -
> > American legitimacy in the eyes of the world and of the Iraqis
> > will be shot. International law seems to count for nothing in
> > this administration's view of the world.'
> >
> > As well as the glossy magazines, last week some of America's
> > weightiest newspaper columnists - conservatives and liberals
> > alike - aligned themselves firmly against the upcoming war.
> >
> > 'Texas on the Tigris' mocked the New York Times ' Maureen
> > Dowd, jibing at the oil interest that flows through every vein
> > of the Bush administration.
> >
> > Thomas Friedman of the New York Times , seen by many as one of
> > the conservative apologists for any strategy that backs
> > Israel, also joined the opposition fray. 'Iraq cannot prevent
> > an American victory. But it might be able to extend a war over
> > weeks and months, imposing significant costs and putting on a
> > bloody show for the rest of the world.'
> >
> > ==^==^=============================================================
> > This email was sent to: bbirkett at interlog.com
> >
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