[Peace] Catholic Bishops Conference on Iraq

[Dlind49 at aol.com]

Bishops Raise Serious Moral Questions about Force While Welcoming President's 
Appeal to UN

WASHINGTON (September 17, 2002) -- In a letter to President Bush, Bishop 
Wilton D. Gregory expressed serious questions about the moral legitimacy of 
any preemptive, unilateral use of military force to overthrow the government 
of Iraq as he welcomed the President's efforts to focus the world's attention 
on the need to address Iraq's repression and pursuit of weapons of mass 
destruction in defiance of the United Nations. 

Bishop Gregory, President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops 
(USCCB), hand-delivered the letter to National Security Adviser Condoleezza 
Rice at a meeting at the White House yesterday.

In the letter, Bishop Gregory recalled the situation one year ago when the 
then-President of the USCCB, Bishop Joseph Fiorenza, said the use of force 
against Afghanistan could be justified if it were carried out in accord with 
just war norms and as one part of a much broader, mostly non-military effort 
to deal with terrorism.

"We believe Iraq is a different case," Bishop Gregory said. "Given the 
precedents and risks involved, we find it difficult to justify extending the 
war on terrorism to Iraq, absent clear and adequate evidence of Iraqi 
involvement in the attacks of September 11th or of an imminent attack of a 
grave nature."

"The United States and the international community have two grave moral 
obligations: to protect the common good against any Iraqi threats to peace 
and to do so in a way that conforms with fundamental moral norms," Bishop 
Gregory said. "We have no illusions about the behavior or intentions of the 
Iraqi government," he continued. "Mobilizing the nations of the world to 
recognize and address Iraq's threat to peace and stability through new UN 
action and common commitment to ensure that Iraq abides by its commitments is 
a legitimate and necessary alternative to the unilateral use of military 
force," he added. 

While welcoming the decision to seek UN action, "other question of ends and 
means must also be answered," he noted. "Is it wise to dramatically expand 
traditional moral and legal limits on just cause to include preventive or 
preemptive uses of military force to overthrow threatening regimes or to deal 
with the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction?" He emphasized that, 
"War against Iraq could have unpredictable consequences not only for Iraq but 
for peace and stability elsewhere in the Middle East," and "use of massive 
military force to remove the current government of Iraq could have 
incalculable consequences for a civilian population that has suffered so much 
from war, repression, and a debilitating embargo."

"We respectfully urge you to step back from the brink of war and help lead 
the world to act together to fashion an effective global response to Iraq's 
threats that conforms with traditional moral limits on the use of military 
force," Bishop Gregory wrote.

Full text of Bishop Gregory's letter to President Bush. 




__________________________________ 

Office of Communications
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
3211 4th Street, N.E., Washington, DC 20017-1194 (202) 541-3000
September 18, 2002 United States Conference of Catholic Bishops


Letter to President Bush on Iraq
Bishop Wilton D. Gregory
September 13, 2002

The Honorable George W. Bush
The White House
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President:

At its meeting last week, the 60-member Administrative Committee the United 
States Conference of Catholic Bishops asked me to write you about the 
situation in Iraq. We welcome your efforts to focus the world's attention on 
the need to address Iraq's repression and pursuit of weapons of mass 
destruction in defiance of the United Nations. The Committee met before your 
speech at the United Nations, but I thought it was important that I express 
our serious questions about the moral legitimacy of any preemptive, 
unilateral use of military force to overthrow the government of Iraq. 

A year ago, my predecessor Bishop Joseph Fiorenza wrote you about the U.S. 
response to the horrific attacks we commemorated last week. He told you then 
that, in our judgment, the use of force against Afghanistan could be 
justified, if it were carried out in accord with just war norms and as one 
part of a much broader, mostly non-military effort to deal with terrorism. We 
believe Iraq is a different case. Given the precedents and risks involved, we 
find it difficult to justify extending the war on terrorism to Iraq, absent 
clear and adequate evidence of Iraqi involvement in the attacks of September 
11th or of an imminent attack of a grave nature. 

The United States and the international community have two grave moral 
obligations: to protect the common good against any Iraqi threats to peace 
and to do so in a way that conforms with fundamental moral norms. We have no 
illusions about the behavior or intentions of the Iraqi government. The Iraqi 
leadership must cease its internal repression, end its threats to its 
neighbors, stop any support for terrorism, abandon its efforts to develop 
weapons of mass destruction, and comply with UN resolutions. Mobilizing the 
nations of the world to recognize and address Iraq's threat to peace and 
stability through new UN action and common commitment to ensure that Iraq 
abides by its commitments is a legitimate and necessary alternative to the 
unilateral use of military force. Your decision to seek UN action is welcome, 
but other questions of ends and means must also be answered. 

There are no easy answers. People of good will may apply ethical principles 
and come to different prudential judgments, depending upon their assessment 
of the facts at hand and other issues. We conclude, based on the facts that 
are known to us, that a preemptive, unilateral use of force is difficult to 
justify at this time. We fear that resort to force, under these 
circumstances, would not meet the strict conditions in Catholic teaching for 
overriding the strong presumption against the use of military force. Of 
particular concern are the traditional just war criteria of just cause, right 
authority, probability of success, proportionality and noncombatant immunity.

Just cause. What is the casus belli for a military attack on Iraq? The 
Catechism of the Catholic Church, reflecting widely accepted moral and legal 
limits on why military force may be used, limits just cause to cases in which 
"the damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations 
[is] lasting, grave and certain." (#2309) Is there clear and adequate 
evidence of a direct connection between Iraq and the attacks of September 
11th or clear and adequate evidence of an imminent attack of a grave nature? 
Is it wise to dramatically expand traditional moral and legal limits on just 
cause to include preventive or preemptive uses of military force to overthrow 
threatening regimes or to deal with the proliferation of weapons of mass 
destruction? Should not a distinction be made between efforts to change 
unacceptable behavior of a government and efforts to end that government"s 
existence? 

Legitimate authority. The moral credibility of the use of military force also 
depends heavily on whether there is legitimate authority for using force to 
topple the Iraqi government. In our judgment, decisions of such gravity 
require compliance with U.S. constitutional imperatives, broad consensus 
within our nation, and some form of international sanction, preferably by the 
UN Security Council. That is why your decision to seek congressional and 
United Nations approval is so important. With the Holy See, we would be 
deeply skeptical about unilateral uses of military force, particularly given 
the troubling precedents involved. 

Probability of success and proportionality. The use of force must have 
"serious prospects for success" and "must not produce evils and disorders 
graver than the evil to be eliminated" (Catechism, #2309). War against Iraq 
could have unpredictable consequences not only for Iraq but for peace and 
stability elsewhere in the Middle East. Would preventive or preemptive force 
succeed in thwarting serious threats or, instead, provoke the very kind of 
attacks that it is intended to prevent? How would another war in Iraq impact 
the civilian population, in the short- and long-term? How many more innocent 
people would suffer and die, or be left without homes, without basic 
necessities, without work? Would the United States and the international 
community commit to the arduous, long-term task of ensuring a just peace or 
would a post-Saddam Iraq continue to be plagued by civil conflict and 
repression, and continue to serve as a destabilizing force in the region? 
Would the use of military force lead to wider conflict and instability? Would 
war against Iraq detract from our responsibility to help build a just and 
stable order in Afghanistan and undermine the broader coalition against 
terrorism? 

Norms governing the conduct of war. While we recognize improved capability 
and serious efforts to avoid directly targeting civilians in war, the use of 
massive military force to remove the current government of Iraq could have 
incalculable consequences for a civilian population that has suffered so much 
from war, repression, and a debilitating embargo.

We raise these troubling questions to contribute to the vital national debate 
about ends and means, risks and choices reflecting our responsibilities as 
pastors and teachers. Our assessment of these questions leads us to urge you 
to pursue actively alternatives to war. We hope you will persist in the very 
frustrating and difficult challenges of building broad international support 
for a new, more constructive and effective approach to press the Iraqi 
government to live up to its international obligations. This approach could 
include continued diplomatic efforts aimed, in part, at resuming rigorous, 
meaningful inspections; effective enforcement of the military embargo; 
maintenance of political sanctions and much more carefully-focused economic 
sanctions which do not threaten the lives of innocent Iraqi civilians; 
non-military support for those in Iraq who offer genuine democratic 
alternatives; and other legitimate ways to contain and deter aggressive Iraqi 
actions.

We respectfully urge you to step back from the brink of war and help lead the 
world to act together to fashion an effective global response to Iraq's 
threats that conforms with traditional moral limits on the use of military 
force.

Sincerely yours,



Most Reverend Wilton D. Gregory
Bishop of Belleville
President





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Office of Social Development & World Peace
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
3211 4th Street, N.E., Washington, DC 20017-1194 (202) 541-3000
September 17, 2002 Copyright © by United States Conference of Catholic 
Bishops