A joint initiative of WCC, ACT & EAA

This bulletin/website is intended to provide an ecumenical space for "visions for peace" and "voices of faith". These materials do not necessarily reflect official policy documents of the WCC, ACT or EAA. last update: 3 May 2002 Please feel free to share this bulletin widely by e-mail and in hard copy. We appreciate feedback on what you find helpful and what other information you may need. Please contact us at: WCC Contact

Bulletin Issue No. 24 - Special Edition 16 March 2003 Providing church, ecumenical and inter-faith information, resources, and analysis on issues of current global concern Focus of this issue: War in Iraq (See also Behind the News issues no. 19-22) Statements and actions of the global church and ecumenical family Humanitarian relief and related issues Resource, analysis and action Download the Bulletin [ MS Word / Acrobat PDF ]

1. Statements and actions of the global church and ecumenical family

After war began, efforts of the churches have largely focused on emergency relief and humanitarian aid while continuing to monitor the situation in the region for the long-term effects of military action.

National and regional church and ecumenical organizations across the globe continue to speak out against the war in Iraq - its legality and its morality - and speak of the will of God for peace with justice for all. A growing list of recent statements can be found at:
http://www2.wcc-coe.org/iraqstatements.nsf
If a church statement is missing, please send it to WCC Contact

2. Humanitarian relief and related issues

The approximately 22-million people in Iraq have lived through a devastating 3-week-long war in addition to 12 years of sanctions. They have in addition had to deal with terrifying incidents of lawlessness brought on by an absence of any clear authority. Still not a place that can be called safe for its citizens or humanitarian aid workers, the crisis brought on by the coalition forces' military action continues to pose severe challenges for those affected by the war and those responding to their needs.

In a few instances, humanitarian efforts have started, but many relief agencies are still facing massive hurdles relating to security issues to respond fully within the country. And many humanitarian agencies continue to lobby for a clear mandate that the United Nations will take on the lead role in the coordination of humanitarian aid to Iraq. Also being debated is the continued need for independent and impartial humanitarian assistance and the need for the occupying force to fulfil its clear obligations under international humanitarian law to maintain law and order. The inability of the coalition forces to do so after their invasion of Iraq has solicited harsh criticism from many quarters.

Priority areas with regards to humanitarian relief are the health sector, ensuring the proper functioning of hospitals, water and sanitation and the need to focus on focus on landmines and unexploded ordinances.

For extensive overviews of humanitarian issues and ongoing relief work in or planned for Iraq, visit the following two web sites: Alertnet at www.alertnet.org
and Reliefweb at http://www.reliefweb.org/w/rwb.nsf/vLCE/Iraq?OpenDocument&StartKey=Iraq&Expandview

The American Friends Service Committee's Doug Hostetter is keeping a journal on-line with information regarding the situation in Iraq. In his April 11 contribution, he writes: "In the meantime, we learned from Voices yesterday that the Al Kindi Hospital where they usually visit patients, has been looted and ransacked. The medical staff have fled, abandoning the patients. The situation is also desperate in several other hospitals in Baghdad, where water and electricity have been cut off."
For this update and other, click on:
http://www.afsc.org/human-face/corres_journal/entries/041103.htm

ACT International, the global alliance of churches and related agencies working in the field of humanitarian aid is responding to the crisis through its local member, Middle East Council of Churches and the local church structures in Iraq. For stories on relief efforts by members of the ACT alliance, click on: http://act-intl.org/act_news_title.html The latest Situation Reports of the ACT members' response can be found at: http://act-intl.org/act_sitrep_title.html

The Danish relief agency, DanChurchAid's Nils Carstensen, seconded to ACT International to report on the humanitarian crisis sparked by the war on Iraq, filed the following report from Amman, Jordan: "The air will be cold and hot and we will burn very much", which details personal accounts by peace activists returning from Baghdad, and earlier pre-war reports that offer glimpses of what life has been like for Iraq's 13 million children in particular.
http://act-intl.org/news/dt_nr_2003/dtiraq0503.html

Also by Carstensen is an article titled: "Winning hearts and minds - or ensuring impartial aid", which looks at the repercussions of the military reality in Iraq during week two of the war which seemed increasingly like at that point to bring the warring parties on a collision course with International Humanitarian Law. http://act-intl.org/news/dt_nr_2003/dtiraq0303.html

Several ACT International members are also coordinating some of their relief efforts with Caritas Internationalis, a confederation of 154 Catholic relief, development and social service organizations working to build a better world, especially for the poor and oppressed, in 198 countries and territories. For more on CI's response to Iraq, click on
http://www.caritas.org/jumpNews.asp?idLang=ENG&idChannel=3&idUser=0&idNews=974

The "All Our Children" campaign is a $1 million, multi-US-agency effort to provide medical supplies to Iraqi children. Three members of ACT are part of this campaign: Lutheran World Relief (www.lwr.org), the National Council of Churches in the USA (http://www.ncccusa.org/) and Church World Service (http://www.cwserp.org/). The third and most recent shipment of supplies bound for pediatric hospitals in Iraq, left Jordan last week, crossing into Iraq, reported Steve Weaver. Weaver is a CWS International Disaster Response Consultant and Jordan-based coordinator of the All Our Children initiative. For more information, visit the All Our Children web site at www.allourchildren.org

The International Committee of the Red Cross: ICRC President Jakob Kellenberger has appealed to Coalition forces and "other persons in authority" to take urgent measures to redress the situation in Baghdad and other parts of Iraq, where law and order has broken down and vital services are threatened. He also called on Iraqi authorities to treat Coalition POWs in accordance with the Geneva Conventions and allow ICRC to visit them. For more: http://www.icrc.org/Web/Eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/5LHJP6

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, also active in Iraq, has regular updated information on the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the country:
http://www.ifrc.org/WHAT/disasters/response/iraq.asp

Following reports that two US conservative Christian groups were potentially combining evangelism with their humanitarian relief efforts for Iraq (see "Two Christian Groups' Aid Effort Questioned" in the March 28 issue of the Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A39600-2003Mar27&notFound=true), Christian Aid in the UK issued a statement emphasizing "the importance of international codes of conduct which require agencies to ensure that the delivery of humanitarian aid is undertaken entirely separately from political, religious or military activities." They also emphasized that aid is given based on need alone, not on any religious or political affiliation, and respects the local culture.
http://www.christian-aid.org.uk/news/media/pressrel/030410p.htm

3. Resources, analysis and action

The United Nation's News Center: Focus on Iraq provides coverage of the UN's involvement in the crisis: http://www.un.org/apps/news/infocusRel.asp?infocusID=50&Body=Iraq&Body1=

The Centre for Justpeace in Asia publishes a regular newsletter with reflections, analysis and resources, now particularly focused on Iraq: http://daga.dhs.org/justpeace/home.html

In the US, Sojourners: Christians for Justice and Peace, provide extensive analysis, study resources, and action suggestions. http://www.sojo.net/

For a perspective from the Middle East on coverage of the war in Iraq, see the Middle East Media Research Institute http://www.memri.org/. On April 11 it featured a piece entitled "Arab and Muslim Media Reactions to the Fall of Baghdad, http://www.memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SR1403

Also, the Fellowship of Reconciliation in the US provides summaries of news from Middle East sources: http://www.forusa.info/news/

Islam on-line provides another perspective on news from Iraq
http://www.islam-online.net/English/News/2003-04/15/index.shtml

Tikkun Magazine (a Hebrew word which means "to transform, heal and repair.") has several articles related to Iraq and the Middle East including "The Triumph of Fear" which explores the social/spiritual dynamics that have led to this war and how an effective anti-war movement can be built. "The War in Iraq: The War in the West Bank" puts several articles together by different authors. And in an e-mail editorial, Rabbi Michael Lerner, addresses "After Iraq, were the peace forces mistaken?"
http://www.tikkun.org/

Updates on the efforts of the Middle East Council of Churches, particularly in the humanitarian response efforts, are posted at http://www.mecchurches.org/.

Members of the Christian Peacemaker Teams have returned to Baghdad to monitor events in the city following invasion by U.S. forces. Their reports are found at www.cpt.org

WCC General Secretary Konrad Raiser criticized moral and religious arguments to legitimize war against Iraq in an opinion piece published on 8 April by the International Herald Tribune http://www.iht.com/articles/92429.html
World Council of Churches' statements and actions on Iraq:
http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/international/iraq.html

New Routes: A journal of Peace Research and Action from the Life and Peace Institute provides several insights on the different aspects of the war in Iraq, from the "rebirth" of the peace movement to political analysis and religious perspectives.
http://www.life-peace.org/newroutes/newroutes2003/nr200301/

In "What do we do Now: A Peace Agenda", David Cortright opens a discussion on what the peace movement's goals should be now and in the longer term. His essay is followed by three responses.
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20030421&s=cortright&c=1
The essays are part of the The Nation which carries a series of analysis pieces on Iraq:
http://www.thenation.com/

The summary of a policy brief by The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, "Lessons from the Past: The American Record in Nation-Building", states
"The record shows that democratic nation-building is among the most ambitious and difficult of foreign policy undertakings for the United States. Of the 16 over the past century, democracy was sustained in only 4 countries ten years after the departure of American forces. Two of these followed total defeat and surrender (in World War II) and two were in tiny countries (Grenada and Panama). The record also reveals that unilateral nation-building by the United States has an even lower success rate perhaps because unilateralism has led to the creation of surrogate regimes and direct American administration during the interim post-conflict period…." http://www.ceip.org/files/Publications/2003-04-11-peipolicybrief.asp?from=pubdate

Carnegie also has extensive policy analysis and background on the War in Iraq at:
http://www.ceip.org/files/Iraq/index.htm

In a vivid article titled "Mesopotamia. Babylon. The Tigris and Euphrates", Arundhati Roy asks, "How many children, in how many classrooms, over how many centuries, have hang-glided through the past, transported on the wings of these words?And now the bombs are falling, incinerating and humiliating that ancient civilization". Her editorial provides a different perspective and analysis than found on the mainstream media. http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0402-01.htm (originally published on Tuesday, April 2, 2003 by The Guardian/UK)

For some perspectives from Iraqi opposition groups, an interview conducted in French with Kendal Nezan, president of the Kurdish Institute in Paris in November 2002, provides extensive critique of regime of Saddam Hussein and efforts of the US government in the country.
http://www.proche-orient.info/xjournal_pol_int.php3?id_article=7033

Call to Action: The International Campaign to Ban Landmines is calling for an Action Action alert to "Say NO to mine use in Iraq!"
Press your own government on the use of mines in Iraq with an easy to use guide to help you write a letter. Aslo make sure that humanitarian assistance includes mine awareness and clearance programs to make Iraq safe for generations to come.
http://www.icbl.org/
For up-to-date information on the use of landmines in Iraq by US forces and action you can take, visit: http://www.banminesusa.org/

In "Noam Chomsky Interviewed" on April 13, Michael Albert asks if the cheering in the streets of Iraqi cities "retrospectively undercut the logic of antiwar opposition?" Chomsky responds, "I'm surprised that it was so limited and so long delayed. Every sensible person should welcome the overthrow of the tyrant, and the ending of the devastating sanctions, most certainly Iraqis. But the antiwar opposition, at least the part of it I know anything about, was always in favor of these ends. That's why it opposed the sanctions that were destroying the country and undermining the possibility of an internal revolt that would send Saddam the way of the other brutal killers supported by the present incumbents in Washington. The antiwar movement insisted that Iraqis, not the US government, must run the country. And it still does -- or should; it can have a substantial impact in this regard. Opponents of the war were also rightly appalled by the utter lack of concern for the possible humanitarian consequences of the attack, and by the ominous strategy for which it was the "'test case.'"
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=41&ItemID=3450

In "Discussing War With Children" in the Jesuit magazine America, Thomas J. McCarthy writes, “The day the bombing began in Baghdad, my daughter came home from kindergarten and said, "We're at war with Iraq, right Daddy?" Later that evening, she stopped in the midst of her piano practice to ask, "Daddy, how can music change the world?" Her thinking was, I knew, prompted by a book we have about Beethoven, which says he believed music could change the world. Ever since that moment when she made the connection between music and war, my mind keeps returning to the juxtaposition of her at the piano in our dining room and the violence in Iraq.”
http://www.americamagazine.org/gettext.cfm?textID=2930&articleTypeID=7#

Barbara Ehrenreich in "The Roots of War" (The Progressive), says, "“Only three types of creatures engage in warfare--humans, chimpanzees, and ants. Among humans, warfare is so ubiquitous and historically commonplace that we are often tempted to attribute it to some innate predisposition for slaughter--a gene, perhaps, manifested as a murderous hormone…. But war is too complex and collective an activity to be accounted for by any warlike instinct lurking within the individual psyche." The article concludes: “The "epidemicity" of war has one other clear implication: War cannot be used as a means to prevent or abolish war. …The idea of a war to end war is one of its oldest, and cruelest, tricks.”
http://www.progressive.org/april03/ehr0403.html

"Most American churchgoers are hearing about the issue of war with Iraq at their places of worship. But most say their ministers are not taking a position for or against the war, and relatively few people say their own views on the issue are being shaped by religious leaders or their own religious beliefs." A recent survey in the US taken in mid-March by the Pew Research Center and the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life shows that just a third of Americans say that the opinions of religious leaders have had at least some influence on their thinking about possible military action in Iraq, and only 11% say those views have been highly influential.
Introduction and summary: http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?ReportID=176
Full report: http://people-press.org/reports/pdf/176.pdf

A veteran war correspondent, Chris Hedges, takes a self-critical look at the media in "The Press and the Myths of War" published in The Nation:
“For war, when we confront it truthfully, exposes the darkness within all of us. This darkness shatters the illusions many of us hold not only about the human race but about ourselves. Few of us confront our own capacity for evil, but this is especially true in wartime. And even those who engage in combat are afterward given cups from the River Lethe to forget. And with each swallow they imbibe the myth of war. For the myth makes war palatable. It gives war a logic and sanctity it does not possess. It saves us from peering into the darkest recesses of our own hearts. And this is why we like it. It is why we clamor for myth. The myth is enjoyable, and the press, as is true in every nation that goes to war, is only too happy to oblige. They dish it up and we ask for more.” http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20030421&s=hedges

Kevin Danaher and Tony Newman look back on "Honoring the Whole Dr. King" and share excerpts from a speech delivered by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 4, 1967, at a meeting of concerned clergy and laity at Riverside Church in New York City during the Vietnam war:

“Somehow this madness must cease. We must stop now. I speak as a child of God and brother to the suffering poor of Vietnam. I speak for those whose land is being laid waste, whose homes are being destroyed, whose culture is being subverted. I speak for the poor of America who are paying the double price of smashed hopes at home and death and corruption in Vietnam. I speak as a citizen of the world, for the world as it stands aghast at the path we have taken. I speak as an American to the leaders of my own nation. The great initiative in this war is ours. The initiative to stop it must be ours.

We can no longer afford to worship the god of hate or bow before the altar of retaliation. The oceans of history are made turbulent by the ever-rising tides of hate. History is cluttered with the wreckage of nations and individuals that pursued this self-defeating path of hate.

A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=15557

Behind the News: Visions for Peace - Voices of Faith
focuses on alternative voices and perspectives behind stories in (or conspicuously absent from) the international news.
highlights statements, ideas and actions that aim to build peace and reconciliation in situations of conflict and violence.
shares information particularly from churches, ecumenical organizations, and other faiths, emphasizing different regional perspectives.

last update: 10 March 2003