CPWI Letter to President Obama

January 21, 2009

Dear President Obama:

We, the Christian Peace Witness for Iraq, a coalition of more than thirty faith-based peace organizations, write on the occasion of your first inaugural to congratulate you on this historic achievement which holds such promise for so many people in the United States and throughout the world.

We also write to encourage you to follow through with your campaign pledge to take a different course in Iraq. Specifically, we have seven areas of concern:

First and foremost, we urge you to end the war in Iraq as soon as is reasonably possible. This must include both the withdrawal of U.S. troops and the dismantling of U.S. bases. We recognize that the logistical challenge of standing down a force of more than 100,000 is one which, properly done, will take some time.  The nation and the world are watching with great hope that your powerful words in months past will be matched by bold action in the weeks to come.

Second, our organizations are aware that no sustainable peace in Iraq can be attained without far more profound efforts to promote regional diplomacy than we have seen over the past eight years. The importance of avoiding a war with Iran, and developing stability in our relationships with that country over the long-term, cannot be overstated. The gospels make clear that no relationship, however strained, is beyond redemption.

Third, we believe that reversing the previous administration’s use of torture and extraordinary rendition as means of interrogating prisoners is central to restoring our nation’s reputation as a just society. Jesus’ teaching that we should love even our enemies compels us to speak out against the mistreatment of detainees. Whatever these prisoners have done or are alleged to have done, they are still people created in the image of God who must be treated with dignity.  We applaud your administration’s promise to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo. Your inauguration presents the opportunity to change the whole culture of the detention and interrogation process and to bring it into line with our core national values as enacted by our laws. These matters are of the utmost importance in our faith communities, and we have enclosed a carefully crafted list of the measures we believe must be included in a Presidential Executive Order Banning Torture, Cruelty and Prisoner Abuse.

Fourth, we are deeply distressed about the plight of Iraqi refugees. As many as 5.2 million people are now displaced, either in Iraq or beyond Iraq's borders. Jesus speaks some of the most powerful language in the gospels in defense of people who lack the basics of food, clothing and shelter, and against those who ignored their plight. As a people of compassion and responsibility, we must truthfully recognize our own role in the humanitarian crisis in Iraq, and must significantly increase our nation's support of efforts benefiting refugees, the internally displaced, and the most vulnerable in Iraq, so that they can rebuild their lives with dignity and hope.

Fifth, we think it essential that, even with difficult economic times at home, our responsibilities toward Iraqis should not end with the necessary withdrawal of U.S. troops. The United States has an obligation to immediately increase support for non-governmental humanitarian aid to Iraq and to Iraqis in the region until a genuine and lasting peace that benefits all of Iraq's people has come. Our common faith calls us to particular concern for widows, orphans and refugee, the ones whom Jesus called his sisters and brothers.

Sixth, we believe that an apology is in order to the people of Iraq for the chaos that has been sown there. Whatever the intentions of the architects of the war, things have gone terribly awry and at great human and economic cost. There could be no better way to set a new tone and chart a different course with Iraq and the world than to humbly admit what everyone already knows to be the case.  Moreover, it would show us to be a wise nation that is capable of admitting its mistakes and learning from them. The healing that has occurred from such truth-telling in places as different as Guatemala and South Africa shows us the way. Such healing would make us safer as we seek to make friends out of our enemies. The United States needs the world, for its own safety and that of the entire planet, to see us as the peace-loving neighbor we imagine ourselves to be, and such an apology would lead us in that direction.

Finally, we call upon your administration and Congress to provide generous support for veterans and active-duty soldiers and their families as they seek to rebuild their lives. Your bold message that we must take personal responsibility for the change we wish to see resonates deeply among our members, and we realize that we also must take responsibility to care for soldiers and their families who have given so much of themselves in this war. We commit ourselves to a ministry of healing and justice for those who have served in our armed forces. We continue to pray for soldiers and their families, to work diligently to bring them home safely, to welcome them back into our communities with respect and love, to honor their lives and to protest putting them in harm’s way.

In closing, please know that we are praying for you as you take the reins of leadership of our country, for your health and safety, as well as for your strength, wisdom and courage. We look to you, as we do all those in authority, to lead us in the ways of justice, righteousness and peace, believing that these are the marks of a truly good society. We are hopeful that future generations of U.S. Americans will look back to your administration as a time in which a people looking towards a better world transcended a call of “Yes we can” to become a vital part of a world community that could proudly proclaim “And so we did!”

Soli Deo Gloria.


Rick Ufford-Chase, for
The Christian Peace Witness for Iraq
17 Cricketown Road
Stony Point, NY 10980
www.christianpeacewitness.org
(845) 786-6743