Mercy Global Concern - 2002

America and Iraq

(The report below is from a series of conferences, protest speeches and reports at the United Nations Headquarters NY)

"George Bush is headed towards war on Iraq, using bullying and bribery to bring the UN Security Council and Congress to his heels. Anti- war protests have grown with sit-ins, call-ins and massive protests in cities around the USA and around the world (In Italy, more than 1.5 million people joined anti-war rallies on October 6. And in the single largest British protest rally since the Vietnam era, 350,000 anti-war protesters marched on London on September 28."

The incessant talk about war is worrying US allies in Europe and the Middle East and is stimulating anti-Americanism almost everywhere. War in defiance of the United Nations, will not make for a secure world, and will make for United States global dominance. This strategy is a recipe for global disorder, including intensified anti-American terrorism on a global scale.

President Bush claims that he has no quarrel with the Iraqi people, but they will suffer the greatest if the United States of America goes to war. Despite talk about precision bombing and minimizing civilian causalities, U.S. strategy guarantees large-scale death and destruction.

The humanitarian crisis in Iraq has been well documented.

• At least 500,000 children below the age of five have died after a decade of UN sanctions. According to UNICEF, infant mortality rose from 47 per 1000 live births during 1984-1989 to 108 per 1,000 in 1994-1999.
• Access to drinkable water in urban areas is only 50 per cent of 1990 levels and only 33 per cent in rural areas. UN sanctions bans the importation of Chlorine needed for water purification.
• Iraq's economy has shrunk by nearly two-thirds since 1991. Iraqi salaries are as low as $2 per month.
• Electrical capacity, crippled by bombs and the lack of spare parts, affects hospitals, food supplies and schools. Iraqi civilians experience daily power cuts lasting nine to 18 hours. The UN estimates that $7.1 billion is required to repair the Iraqi electricity system

"In Afghanistan, at least 3,000 civilians (as many as were killed in the September 11th attacks) died during precision bombing. It would seem that President Bush's "preemption doctrine" -the idea that the United States of America can arbitrarily and unilaterally attack anytime it claims a threat- undermines international law, establishes brute force and establishes America as a global police force."

Questions about the War

President Bush has just released a new, congressionally mandated statement about the strategic goals of his foreign policy. It seems a radical departure from the past 50 years of USA foreign policy.

• Unilateral military action by the United States is asserted as a right.
• Eliminating another nation's ability to attempt to match US military power is asserted as a right.
• The cooperative relationships and the rule of international law are subordinate to United States' own decisions. (This is in keeping with Bush's repudiation of the Kyoto protocol on the environment and the International Criminal Court)
• Morally, practically and diplomatically is it wise to violate international law and the United Nations charter to which the United States of America has subscribed?
• What happens when Hussein is removed? If attacked, might Hussein find ways to put weapons of mass destruction into the hands of terrorists?
• Does it make sense to send 250,000 -- 500,000 American troops to Iraq and for how long?
• About this pre-emptive war stuff, who gets to go next? China against Taiwan? India against Pakistan?

Those who share these questions, need to raise their voices and take opportunities to protest, such as was seen in Washington DC on Saturday October 25th.

Our mission as Sisters of Mercy is to help shape a community of courage that will create coalitions of conscience that effect change.
To do this we need to develop critical consciousness, which keeps faith with our moral ground, our better nature, the spark of the divine, which is in every human person.

Albert Camus gives us something to think about when he writes:

We must mend
What has been torn apart,
Make justice imaginable again
In a world, so obviously unjust
Give happiness once more
To peoples poisoned
By the misery of the century
Naturally,
It is a superhuman task
But superhuman is the term
For tasks ... (we) take a long time
To accomplish
That's all.

Deirdre Mullan RSM
New York
November, 2002