Christian Church(Disciples of Christ)
Christian Church
(Disciples of Christ)
Disciples leaders urge military restraint toward Iraq
96b-82
September 23, 1996
Contact: news@cm.disciples.org
GENEVA, Switzerland (WCC) -- Four Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
representatives to the World Council of Churches' Central Committee, signed a recent
statement by the U.S. National Council of Churches expressing concern about U.S. attacks
on
Iraq.
During a Sept. 18 morning session in Geneva, Central Committee members cited a Sept.
13 NCC statement on Iraq and called on all nations to "respect the territorial
integrity of Iraq."
The earlier NCC statement urged the U.S. government to "pursue a course of military
restraint and multilateral diplomacy" in regard to any continuing actions on Iraq.
"U.S. actions
always should be taken in the context of longstanding commitments to the family of
nations,
the International Rule of Law and the well-being of all peoples," according to the
statement.
While offering "no sympathy" for the present Iraqi government, the NCC expressed
concern that the humanitarian aid for its people and "the oil for food and medicine
agreement
must not be lost. Our government's responses to his actions must not make us complicit in
such human suffering.
"There is little doubt of the U.S. capacity to strike or of the will to do so,"
the statement
continued. "However, those who exploit the need for reprisal or play upon a sad but
popular
thirst for U.S. military action must also be challenged. U.S. actions as well as the
actions of
other nations be informed by the consequences for all who may be caught in the potential
violence and for their families, involving in this instance Kurds, Iraqis, American
military
personnel and other potential victims."
The Central Committee also voiced approval of a WCC press statement, issued Sept. 4,
which called the U.S. attacks against Iraq "indefensible on moral grounds."
"We urge all governments, including our own, to pursue a course of discernment,
diplomacy and cooperation that will both protect human life and embody the responsible
uses
of power . . . this is the moral course."
Disciples signing the NCC statement were the Revs. Joan Brown Campbell, NCC general
secretary; Paul A. Crow, Jr., president, Council on Christian Unity; Albert M.
Pennybacker,
NCC; and Douglas Smith, Geneva, Switzerland.
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