As members of Pax Christi, we would like to respond to the several commentaries in last week’s The University News regarding our beliefs about the best way to resolve the Iraq War, and our motivations for holding a non-violent, non-partisan memorial on campus, March 20th.
As part of the Catholic peace movement, we support “work on a global scale on a wide variety of issues in the fields of human rights, security and disarmament, economic justice and ecology.” This work includes support for all universal human rights-human rights that exclude no one. With regard to the Iraq War, we believe military occupation should end as soon as possible. Military intervention is only one of many ways to address the Iraq situation, and we believe it is neither effective nor ethical. However, removing military presence from the Iraqi people does not imply removing all American and international humanitarian aid.
In fact, Pax Christi USA recently co-signed a letter to the U.S. Congress calling for a surge in relief and development to Iraq. We at Pax Christi believe that “the U.S. can and should do more to rebuild and stabilize Iraq through increased U.S. support for civil society, peacebuilding, humanitarian relief and responsible economic development.” Casualty estimates that include Americans and Iraqis range from 65,000 to more than 750,000 persons. The United States has spent $412 billion on the war, or $8 billion a month, over the last four years, according to the National Priorities Project. We believe this is enough.
Yet, after four years of being so intimately involved in the affairs of another nation, it would be both irresponsible and inhumane to completely disengage. We must continue to support the Iraqi people, yet our support should be provided through new, massive humanitarian aid instead of the escalation of troops. The $124 billion approved last Friday by Congress for the war budget could be redirected to humanitarian efforts to care for both Iraqis and returned American soldiers.
Two sources we found to be helpful in examining possible courses of action for ending this war include George McGovern and William Polk’s book, Out of Iraq: A Practical Plan for Withdrawal Now, and a letter to Congress signed by 43 NGOs (non-governmental organizations), including Pax Christi USA, detailing plans for the reallocation of money and human resources. This letter can be found at http://www.epic-usa.org.
Although we present these ideas as Pax Christi-the international and University organization-not every individual who participated in the die-in was a member of Pax Christi or subscribed to these specific views. Pax Christi facilitated the die-in as a means for students to both mourn those who have died and pray for an end to the war. We presented the event as a non-partisan activity in which people with many different views could participate.
It is unfortunate that the counter-protest led to confusion over the purpose of the die-in. We appreciate the presence of dissenting voices on campus because of the conversation that can result. What happened on March 20 was not, however, the type of conversation we had hoped to create. The ambiguous nature with which the counter-protesters acted misrepresented the die-in to onlookers and was both disrespectful and hurtful. It is our hope that we can now move toward a healthy dialogue that respects and considers each viewpoint. Such a conversation will enable us to further educate ourselves and will foster the same desire within our University community.
Mary Becker, John Carroll, Katie Childs and Megan Heeney are seniors in the College of Arts and Sciences and SLU Pax Christi members.
