Iraqis do not want war, religious delegation finds
1/6/2003 News media contact: Linda Bloom · (646) 369-3759 · New York
NOTE:
Head-and-shoulder photographs of Bishop Melvin Talbert, the Rev. Robert
Edgar and James Winkler are available. For the delegation's statement,
see UMNS story #004.
The
Rev. Robert Edgar visits a sick baby in a hospital in Baghdad, Iraq.
Edgar, a United Methodist pastor and chief executive of the National
Council of Churches, led a delegation of religious leaders who visited
Iraq Dec. 29 Jan. 3 to assess the effects of more than a decade of
sanctions against Iraq and to connect with Christians in that country. A
UMNS photo by Robin Hoecker, Unitarian Universalist Association for the
National Council of Churches. Photo number 03-08, Accompanies UMNS
#003, 1/8/03
No Long Caption Available for this Story
:
Iraqi children perform dances during a New Year's Eve service at a
Presbyterian church in Baghdad. A delegation of religious leaders
visited Iraq Dec. 29-Jan. 3 to assess the effects of more than a decade
of sanctions against Iraq and to connect with Christians in that
country. The delegation was led by the Rev. Robert Edgar, a United
Methodist pastor and chief executive of the National Council of
Churches. A UMNS photo by Robin Hoecker, Unitarian Universalist
Association for the National Council of Churches. Photo number 03-06,
Accompanies UMNS #003, 1/8/03
No Long Caption Available for this Story
U.S.
church leaders meet with Bishop Hawaa (right), leader of the Syrian
Orthodox Church in Iraq, during a Dec. 29-Jan. 3 trip to assess the
effects of more than a decade of sanctions against Iraq and to connect
with Christians in that country. From left are: The Rev. Victor Makari,
the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.); United Methodist Bishop Melvin
Talbert; and the Rev. Robert Edgar, a United Methodist pastor and chief
executive of the National Council of Churches. A UMNS photo by Robin
Hoecker, Unitarian Universalist Association for the National Council of
Churches. Photo number 03-05, Accompanies UMNS #003, 1/9/03
No Long Caption Available for this Story
:
United Methodist Bishop Melvin Talbert (right) and the Rev. Robert
Edgar, a United Methodist pastor and chief executive of the National
Council of Churches (center) greet an Iraqi Muslim leader outside a
mosque in Baghdad. The U.S. clergymen were part of a delegation to
assess the effects of more than a decade of sanctions against Iraq and
to connect with Christians in that country. A UMNS photo by Robin
Hoecker, Unitarian Universalist Association for the National Council of
Churches. Photo number 03-07, Accompanies UMNS #003, 1/8/03
No Long Caption Available for this Story
Iraqi
children peer from a classroom window in Baghdad. A delegation of
religious leaders visited Iraq Dec. 29-Jan. 3 to assess the effects of
more than a decade of sanctions against Iraq and to connect with
Christians in that country. The delegation was led by the Rev. Robert
Edgar, a United Methodist pastor and chief executive of the National
Council of Churches. A UMNS photo by Robin Hoecker, Unitarian
Universalist Association for the National Council of Churches. A UMNS
photo by Robin Hoecker, Unitarian Universalist Association for the
National Council of Churches. Photo number 03-04, Accompanies UMNS #003,
1/8/03
No Long Caption Available for this Story
When United Methodist Bishop Melvin Talbert and
other religious leaders visited Iraq just before the 1991 Persian Gulf
War, he left knowing that the coming conflict was inevitable.
Iraqi
Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz, flanked by his cabinet, had brusquely
made it clear at that time that his visitors needed to go back and talk
to their own government, not to Iraq, Talbert said.
But the
conversation that Talbert, ecumenical officer for the United Methodist
Council of Bishops, and 12 religious leaders had recently with Aziz
during a Dec. 29-Jan. 3 trip to Iraq was markedly different, the bishop
told United Methodist News Service. The deputy prime minister, who is
Christian, spoke alone with the group during a friendly, casual meeting
and later prayed with them.
"I don't sense that they are in a
non-negotiating stance," Talbert explained, adding that Aziz said the
Iraqi government would welcome discussions with U.S. Secretary of State
Colin Powell and U.S. congressional leaders. "They are in more of a
conciliatory mood at this point. They feel they are abiding by the U.N.
resolution."
Diplomatic talks, however, were not the main purpose
of the post-Christmas delegation to Iraq, led by the Rev. Robert Edgar,
a United Methodist pastor and chief executive of the National Council
of Churches. Instead, the focus was on measuring the effects of more
than a decade of sanctions against Iraq and having an opportunity to
connect with Christians in that country. The Rev. Riad Jarjour, chief
executive of the Middle East Council of Churches, hosted the delegation.
"We went because we felt we could be a humanitarian inspection team," Edgar said.
Their
experiences prompted a statement opposing a rush to war with Iraq and
pledges to keep the plight of innocent Iraqis before the U.S. public.
"What
we're calling for is restraint," Talbert explained. "What we're hoping
for, in the final analysis, is that we will not need to go to war."
The
reality of life in Iraq goes beyond its reviled leader, delegation
members pointed out. "The images that we have seen on television have
been those of Saddam Hussein holding up a rifle," Edgar added. "We
wanted to humanize Iraq by focusing on children and the most vulnerable
who will be impacted by the war."
The delegation offered no
support for what James Winkler, chief executive of the United Methodist
Board of Church and Society, called the "reprehensible regime" of Saddam
Hussein.
But Winkler also noted that the U.N. weapons inspectors
had not yet discovered anything to justify a war and added that the
existence of the regime was not enough reason "to carry out an invasion
of Iraq that is inevitably going to result in the deaths of a whole lot
of innocent people."
Through contact with ordinary Iraqis at
worship services and through visits to schools and hospitals, the
delegation "saw for ourselves the devastating impact of 12 years of
sanctions on the people of Iraq."
Delegation members plan to
meet with U.S. government leaders as well as permanent members of the
U.N. Security Council to discuss the impact of the sanctions and a
revamping of the United Nations' current "oil for food" program for
Iraq.
"At some point, you have to question how much punishment
the ordinary people of Iraq deserve," said Winkler, who pointed out that
the United Methodist Church officially backs an end to the sanctions.
Along
with other religious leaders, Edgar, a former Congressman, has been a
vocal opponent to war with Iraq. He said he has been surprised by the
number of "middle Americans" questioning the rush to war, especially
since "war talk" makes it hard for the average person to learn what is
really happening there.
He believes church leaders need to
continue educating their members about the fact that "these are real
children, real vulnerable people that we're talking about" in Iraq.
Other
delegation members represented the United Church of Christ, Unitarian
Universalist Association, Presbyterian Church USA and Episcopal Church. # # # *Bloom is United Methodist News Service's New York news director.
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