Op-eds
Op-ed 1
Dear President Obama,
As Christians and peacemakers, we know peace is built upon a strong foundation of fairness, respect and right relationships with all people. We have watched your first 100 days in office with profound appreciation. Your integrity is seen constantly as you attempt to honor your campaign promises, step back from the destructive policies of the previous administration, manage our nation out of a financial tempest and unite all Americans.
You share our commitment to diplomacy and development in our relationships with those who are motivated by hate and fear. We are grateful for your early moves to end the war in Iraq and your boldness and clarity in telling the world that torture is never acceptable.
Respectfully, we request that you:
- Apologize to the people of Iraq on behalf of our nation. Healing cannot begin without making it clear we are sorry for the suffering we caused for hundreds of thousands of Iraqis.
- Help Iraqis rebuild their country and resettle five million Iraqis displaced by the war. We must pursue the future well-being of Iraqis with the same vigor we applied to war against them.
- Set a timeline to remove all U.S. military bases and troops from Iraq. Healthy relationships are impossible if the Middle East fears we seek military and economic dominance in the region.
- Unite the nation in supporting our soldiers and their families as they reconstruct their lives after sacrificing so much.
- Stand firmly against torture and extraordinary rendition. Torture is always wrong, whether we do it or arrange for other nations to do it for us.
- Avoid the trap of making Afghanistan the "good war" that will unite Americans while ending war in Iraq. Growing the war in Afghanistan or Pakistan is a road fraught with peril.
- Strengthen the well-being of our communities here at home. True security will come when all parents know their children can succeed, and all children know that hard work and creativity will be rewarded with opportunity.
President Obama, you have our support. We will stand with you when you are firm and we will encourage you when you are under attack. We ask you to stick to the values that won you the White House.
Gratefully,
Rick Ufford-Chase, Christian Peace Witness for Iraq
Op-ed 2
As this season of lengthening days draws slowly toward spring, it sometimes feels as if the darkness of winter will never end. How much longer must these days feel to those in Iraq who yearn for peace after six years of war?
Christians ground their understanding of the world in the conviction that the darkness will end and new life is always possible. We share a pastoral concern and compassion for the suffering of all those caught in war's way and longing for an end to the warring madness.
At the same time, we must address the prophetic question, "How shall we end it?"
Even at his arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus told his followers to put away the sword. The United States is called to put away the sword — now — in Iraq.
President Obama's promise to end the war is praiseworthy, and his planned troop reductions are a necessary first step. But 50,000 troops in Iraq 18 months from today is not sheathing the sword.
Martin Luther King Jr. observed, "True peace is not merely the absence of conflict, it is the presence of justice." The administration's current plans fall far short of true peace because 50,000 American troops in Iraq will not ensure justice, and they are likely to remain a flashpoint of conflict. We urge the president to announce a timeline for removing all U.S. military bases and troops from Iraq.
Authentic justice and true peace can be built only on a foundation of truth and reconciliation. We join Archbishop Desmond Tutu in calling on the president to apologize to the people of Iraq on behalf of our nation. It would be the first step on the path of reconciliation to just and lasting peace.
We invite people across the United States to join us in Washington on April 29, the eve of President Obama's 100th day in office, as we prayerfully petition the White House and engage in a public act of worship and repentance. People from across the nation will bring bread – a cherished symbol of life – to the hungry in the nation's capital. Consecrated in worship, we will bring the bread to the White House and ask the Administration to join us in choosing life over death.
Jesus preached repentance and reconciliation, and called his followers to restore their relationships with one another. We seek to help Iraqis rebuild their country and resettle five million Iraqis displaced by the war. Thus we aim to raise $50,000 this spring to assist Iraqi relief efforts.
Jesus also called his followers to love even those we see as enemies. We applaud President Obama's ban on torture and urge him to stand just as firmly against extraordinary rendition.
Each of these steps mark the path of visionary leadership for a people long blinded to our own soul-crushing militarism. We must avoid the trap of making Afghanistan the "good war" that will unite Americans as we do the hard work of ending the war in Iraq. Growing the war in Afghanistan or Pakistan is a road fraught with peril.
In April, 1967, Dr. King spoke of the "fierce urgency of now" in calling for an end to the conflict in Vietnam. His words echo powerfully today: "If we do not act, we shall surely be dragged down the long, dark and shameful corridors of time reserved for those who possess power without compassion, might without morality, and strength without sight."
In this season of rebirth, let us turn away from darkness and chart a course to new life guided by our deep wells of compassion, moral courage, and vision. Only thus can we build true peace for Iraqis and for ourselves.
Op-ed 3
President Obama's decision to extend the war in Iraq for at least another eighteen months is a mistake. Now in its sixth year, the war that was supposed to have lasted less than six months will have dragged on for a minimum of seven and a half years by the time of the cessation of combat operations, currently scheduled to end in late summer of 2010.
Why is continuing the war a mistake? At a time of soaring deficits, when jobs are vanishing, tent cities are springing up all across the nation, and injured and impaired vets are returning to substandard care, the economic cost of fighting a war to the tune of $15 billion a month half way around the world compromises our capacity to meet the needs of our own citizens.
But the even greater cost is the loss of President Obama's moral credibility, which offered the prospect of a fresh start for the US in international relations. Having quickly squandered the global goodwill that came in the wake of the horror of 9/11, the Bush administration led us unjustly into Iraq where, like the biblical Pharaoh whose chariot wheels got stuck in the mud, we have been unable to impose our will on Iraq despite possessing the greatest military force the world has ever seen. As an Illinois state senator, Mr. Obama knew the war was wrong and had the courage of his convictions to say so at a time when most politicians were scrambling for cover. But today, the war is no longer Bush's war—it's Obama's, and, whatever else went before January 20th every death from now on, be it Iraqi or American, is this President's moral responsibility.
Fortunately, both Americans and the rest of the world have the very deep sense that the present occupant of the White House understands this responsibility. Not only did the President campaign on a platform of bringing home our troops as soon as was responsibly possible, he has taken steps since assuming office to reduce troop concentrations immediately and has announced that combat operations will cease next summer.
We are left, however, with an uneasy feeling about this announcement. What exactly does it mean to declare that a war will end in a year and a half? And what meaningful distinction does changing the name of 50,000 combat troops to "trainers" make, especially "trainers" who, according to the generals in charge, will be in place until at least 2015? While taking a significant step in the right direction, President Obama seems to be willing only as of yet to make partial gestures. These sound great and look good on television, but we are left asking ourselves whether our policy towards Iraq is all that different from what it would have been under a third Bush term apart from a change in nomenclature If we are still going to have tens of thousands of soldiers there for six more years, it seems pretty clear that the answer is "not much." As Candidate Obama so rightfully reminded us, you can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig.
The world is waiting for a decisive shift in US policy toward Iraq, and not half measures, so the President is on borrowed time. Everyone knows that this wasn't his war and that withdrawal is a complex process, but as the weeks and months roll by Mr. Obama's credibility with the world will fray and the era of good feeling will fade if our troops remain in Iraq, no matter what they are called. In this season of hope, it is essential that Mr. Obama fulfill his pledge to the voters who elected him and redeem the confidence that the world has placed in him to fashion a new paradigm for America's role in the Middle East.