Jesuits say No

Jesuit school says No to war

Weston Jesuits add their call for no war on Iraq

[9-21-02]

We have just received this statement, signed by the faculty of Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Massachusetts

We at Weston Jesuit School of Theology join our voices with those of people around the world in urging the government of the United States not to attack Iraq.

As Christians, we share a strong moral presumption against war. As members of an international Jesuit center for the study of Roman Catholic theology, it is our judgment that unleashing massive violence in a military invasion of Iraq is neither necessary nor moral.

We find the situation in Iraq and throughout the world deeply troubling. We share with others an overwhelming concern about the stockpiling of biological and chemical weapons in Iraq and elsewhere.

However, as persons of conscience, we are persuaded that the present circumstances do not warrant the use of force against Iraq. Our Just War tradition insists that peaceful and diplomatic alternatives must first be exhausted. It has not been demonstrated to the satisfaction of allies of the United States or to the American public that we have reached the point where war is our last resort.

For twelve years, innocent Iraqi civilians, especially children, the elderly and the infirm, have suffered the effects of desperate deprivation brought about by military strikes and economic sanctions against their nation.

The costs and risks of a military intervention are too high to rush into a war. A large-scale attack would take the lives of soldiers and civilians alike. It would contribute further to the widespread suffering of the Iraqi people, to the escalation of hostilities, to prolonged regional instability, and to the possible collapse of the fragile coalition working to bring an end to terrorism.

As we read the signs of our times, we cannot remain silent in the face of a haunting moral question: What would become of a divided and chaotic Iraq after an attack? Given the course of U.S. interventions in Haiti, Somalia, Afghanistan and elsewhere, we cannot fail to observe that in the recent past the United States has demonstrated little of the patience that is required for the painstaking and costly task of reestablishing order after imposing regime changes. Indeed, the very phrase "nation-building" has acquired considerable stigma in foreign policy discourse.

We are distressed to see the United States flirting with a new doctrine of pre-emptive war so radical that it has no precedent in either international law or United States history.

Where will the line be drawn against future interventions? Will the United States engage in massive and unilateral attacks against any and every regime it judges to be objectionable? Must not the United States in its use of power to exert its will as a nation, often in ways that seem quite arbitrary even to its allies, recognize the limits imposed by the principles of international law such as territorial sovereignty and national self-determination?

In the light of these observations and questions, We, as citizens of the United States and as citizens of countries from around the world, urge creative efforts, in cooperation with the United Nations, allies of the United States and the entire international community, to find ways to contain and curtail Saddam Hussein's threats without resorting to a military attack on Iraq.

Unilateral war is not the answer.

In conclusion, we urge the leaders and governments of all nations, especially President George W. Bush, to heed the words spoken by Pope Paul VI in his 1965 address to the United Nations:

"It suffices to remember that the blood of millions of men, women and children, their numberless and unheard sufferings, useless slaughter and frightful ruin, are the sanction of the past which unites you with an oath which must change the future history of the world: NO MORE WAR, WAR NEVER AGAIN!"

We, as followers of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, appeal to you:

PURSUE THE WAYS OF PEACE THROUGH DIPLOMACY, NOT WAR.

September 12, 2002
Cambridge, Massachusetts

Khaled E. Anatolios
John F. Baldovin, S.J.
Kevin F. Burke, S.J.
Theresa Clarke
Richard J. Clifford, S.J.
Paul Crowley, S.J.
Barbara Dailey
Janice S. Farnham, R.J.M.
Peter E. Fink, S.J.
Margaret E. Guider, O.S.F.
Roger D. Haight, S.J.
Thomas A. Kane, C.S.P.
James F. Keenan, S.J.
Robert E. Manning, S.J.
Thomas J. Massaro, S.J.
Christopher R. Matthews
Karen McLennan
Catherine M. Mooney
John W. O'Malley, S.J.
John R. Sachs, S.J.
Betty Smith, R.S.M.
John P. Stachniewicz
Edward V. Vacek, S.J.
Monica Vandergrift
Lucretia Yaghjian