Pressing Questions (about Iraq)

Prayers for peace. Peace petitions. Peace quilts. Peace walks. Peace pledges. These are only a few of the ways that Mennonites have joined other people of faith in recent months in seeking to prevent a war with Iraq. The range of responses testifies to the energy, creativity, and rich variety of gifts in the body of Christ.

Still, there are many in the pews - both those who oppose and those who quietly support war - who are haunted by pressing questions as the Iraq crisis seems to be coming to a head. Here are some of the questions I hear:

Isn't Saddam Hussein a bad leader? Can we afford to just ignore him? Like most leaders, President Hussein's record is mixed. At one time he built an excellent health care system in Iraq and provided a laudable standard of living for the Iraqi people. Even today, some U.N. officials give high marks to the way that Hussein's government broadly and efficiently distributes food in Iraq.

Still, President Hussein has also attacked neighbors Iran (1980) and Kuwait (1990) and has acted aggressively towards some Iraqi citizens. However, the CIA director recently told Congress that Hussein is unlikely to use weapons of mass destruction against the United States unless the U.S. provokes him to do so.

But even if President Hussein is a bad leader, this does not mean that war is the answer. Attacking Iraq to get rid of President Hussein is like amputating one's arm to get rid of a splinter in one's finger. War is a blunt tool. A confidential U.N. report (see http://www.casi.org.uk/info/undocs/war021210.pdf for the full document) says that the humanitarian consequences of a war could be staggering to the people of Iraq:

• "as many as 500,000 people could require treatment . . . as a result of direct or indirect injuries."
• "the outbreak of diseases in epidemic if not pandemic proportions is very likely."
• "It is estimated that there will be eventually be some 900,000 refugees requiring assistance."

As in dealing with other "bad leaders," there are alternatives to war - including exile, prosecution in an international tribunal, and nonviolent resistance (see Sojourners Magazine, Sept.-Oct. 2002, p. 20).

Shouldn't we support President Bush? After all, he is a Christian. Indeed, the Bible calls us to pray for (I Timothy 2:2) and be subject to (Romans 13:1) governing authorities. But our support for leaders is not carte blanche. We are also commanded to "test the spirits to see whether they are from God" (I John 4:1).

The Bible is filled with stories of God's people who challenged governing authorities to act justly and sometimes even refused to obey their orders:

• Shiphrah and Puah, Hebrew midwives, risked their lives by refusing Pharaoh's order to kill all the Hebrew baby boys. God blessed them for their faithfulness (Exodus 1:15-22).
• Three youth - Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego - were thrown into a fiery furnace for disobeying the king's order to bow down and worship his 90-foot golden statue (Daniel 3).
• Daniel was thrown into a lion's den when he continued praying to God even after King Darius ordered his subjects to pray only to the king (Daniel 6).
• Esther broke the law by appearing before King Ahasuerus in order to plead for the safety of the Hebrew people (Esther 4-8).
• The Apostles declared, "We must obey God rather than any human authority," when the Council ordered them to stop speaking about Jesus (Acts 5:29).

Isn't war with Iraq inevitable? Almost every day now, we hear about more U.S. soldiers being deployed to the Persian Gulf. With so much momentum, isn't war inevitable? Likely, yes. Inevitable, no.

The Bush administration is intent on disarming Iraq and seems ready to use military force to do so. However, President Bush still says that he hopes the situation can be resolved nonviolently. And there are many external factors that are pressing the president to be patient:

• Hans Blix, the head of the U.N. weapons inspectors, says his team needs significantly more time to complete their job. Many U.S. allies support this request.
• Turkey has rebuffed the Bush administration's request to use Turkey's military bases for launching an assault on Iraq from the north.
• At home, the antiwar movement is growing. A broad spectrum of religious leaders has announced opposition to a preemptive war.

While God can obviously will what God chooses, this assertion seems particularly dangerous theologically. As Mennonites, we believe that in Jesus we have the fullest revelation of God's character and purposes for the world. Jesus taught and modeled the way of peace and nonviolence, not war. It is true that our sovereign God can make good things sprout from even horrible human tragedies. But to say that war is God's will seems to stretch New Testament understandings.

When would a war happen? Hans Blix is scheduled to make his first official report to the U.N. Security Council on January 27. The Bush administration concedes that this report will include no "smoking guns." The president may use this occasion to say that Iraq is not fully cooperating and to press other countries to support a military strike. Some analysts suggest that a war could begin as early as Feb. 8. According to military planners, it would be difficult to execute a war once the temperatures in Iraq begin to rise sharply in March and April.

What can I do?

• Pray that world leaders will seek peaceful and imaginative resolution to this standoff.
• Contact the White House and send copies to your senators and representative.

  President George W. Bush The White House Washington, DC 20500 FAX: (202) 456-2461

  Senator __________ U.S. Senate Washington, DC 20510 www.senate.gov *

  Representative __________ U.S. House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515 www.house.gov *

  *to find fax or email addresses

• Attend local and national rallies calling for alternatives to war. Many are planned for Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend.
• Send a letter or op ed to your local newspaper. Offer hopeful alternatives to war.

• speak more positively about the inspections process and to do all he can to help the inspections succeed,
• give the inspectors the time they need to do their job, and
• offer incentives for the Iraqi government to continue cooperating with inspections (e.g. state clearly that the U.S. goal is disarmament, not regime change; promise to support an end to sanctions immediately upon the completion of the inspections process.).

Will it be heeded? That is not ultimately ours to decide. Our calling is to faithfully and brightly reflect God's light (Matthew 5:14-16), trusting that God's light always dispels darkness (John 1:5).