WE are deeply concerned that military action against Iraq is proposed by the United States, and alarmed lest our own government support such action.
We acknowledge concern about the behaviour of the Iraqi government, but experience tells us that violence always creates more violence. We are responsible for the suffering caused by economic sanctions. For years we have exported arms to Iraq. We now contemplate killing vast numbers of Iraqi people. We ourselves have access to weapons of mass destruction.
Also, war would intensify religious and ethnic conflict internationally and within our own communities in the UK. It would incite further terrorism.
Unilateral action by any state against another is contrary to international law and erodes the very function and authority of the United Nations Security Council. We join other Churches, other faiths and wider society in opposing military action
Eleanor Flack
Clerk
Okehampton Quaker Meeting
THERE is a country in the Middle East that has for years refused to implement United Nations Security Council resolutions, that has refused UN inspection teams, that possesses weapons of mass destruction, that has a secret service that terrorises by kidnapping and murder, that has been ruled by a succession of ex-terrorists and which is the biggest threat to peace and stability in the region.
That state is Israel.
Yet we are going to war with Iraq. Surely we are targeting the wrong country? No, war is not the answer to the turmoil and evil regimes in the Middle East. Providing justice and enduring freedom for the Palestinians must be our first priority.
Working through the United Nations, the countries of the world including the United States must apply sufficient pressure to change the misguided and unjust regimes of both Israel and Iraq. It can be done but the will is not there — yet.
Rupert Gude
Treveglos
Church Hill
Whitchurch