January 15, 2003
President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvanian Avenue
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

We are the Executive Board of Mennonite Church USA, and we write to you from our meetings of January 10-11, 2003 in Elkhart, Indiana.

We rejoice in your January 7, 2003 announcement declaring your administration's willingness to have direct discussions with North Korea. Your statement recognizes the importance of dialogue and negotiations as the only means to a peaceful resolution of the current nuclear crisis.

We also thank you for your January 6 statement in reference to a suicide bombing in Israel, saying that you deplore in the strongest terms the taking of innocent lives.

We ask you to pull back from the brink of war with Iraq, saving thousands of lives, and thus go down in history as a successful peacemaker.

Almost every church body in the United States has declared that a war against Iraq cannot be a "just war." Churches around the world have joined this cry. As Mennonites, we hold firmly to Jesus' teaching that encourages us to practice love across all boundaries, loving even enemies. We strive to live Jesus' words, "But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven." Our hearts are heavy with the possibility that our children and we might have to live through a time of war. War will

• cause even more suffering and death for ordinary Iraqis,
• mean numerous U.S. soldiers returning home in body bags,
• cause further ruin of an already collapsing Iraqi civilian infrastructure, and
• spread beyond Iraq's borders and further destabilize the Middle East.

We urge you to take the necessary steps to pull back from the inevitable death and destruction of war.

The victory this country needs, Mr. President, is the victory of peace, of a stable economy both here and in Iraq, of a democratic government that listens to the majority of its citizens who currently do not support war against Iraq. We believe it is in your best interests, the interests of this country, and the interests of the international community for you to courageously step back from war.

On behalf of the Mennonite Church USA Executive Board,

James Schrag
Executive Director