[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 41 (Thursday, March 13, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E471]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




RECOGNIZING THE LEADERS OF CHURCH OF GOD IN CHRIST FOR THEIR LETTER TO 
  PRESIDENT BUSH EXPRESSING GRAVE CONCERN ABOUT A POSSIBLE PREEMPTIVE 
                             ATTACK ON IRAQ

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                            HON. BARBARA LEE

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 13, 2003

  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and commend the 
predominantly Black clergy, intellectual and informed laypersons of the 
community-serving Church of God in Christ for their letter to President 
Bush regarding a possible preemptive attack on Iraq. I sincerely hope 
that ever Member of the House and every American will give serious 
thought to the points raised in this moving and thoughtful letter.
  Mr. Speaker, at this point I wish to insert the letter into the 
Record.


                                Church Of God In Christ, Inc.,

                                    Memphis, TN, January 23, 2003.
     Hon. George W. Bush,
     President, The White House,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear President Bush: We write to you as predominantly Black 
     clergy, intellectuals and informed laypersons of community-
     serving churches of the Church Of God In Christ, to address 
     matters of the deepest gravity, namely, that of war and 
     peace, as presented by your statements and those of Vice 
     President Richard B. Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald 
     H. Rumsfeld concerning a pre-emptive attack upon Iraq.
       We are mindful that war, should it come to pass, will 
     directly affect the safety and well-being of tens of 
     thousands of our fellow citizens in the Armed Forces, of whom 
     significant numbers are ethnic minorities in the enlisted as 
     well as officers and non-commissioned ranks.
       Our thoughts also extend to the safety and well-being of 
     Iraqi civilians who have not lifted a hand against the United 
     States. We are deeply concerned that critical moral 
     reflection on the prospects of war has been overlooked by 
     some in your Administration. We do not advocate a weak 
     America; unable to defend the innocent from rapacious tyranny 
     of attack, but a strong America must examine itself before 
     setting off to war.
       Moreover, Mr. President, we must confess that we fail to 
     see the rush to war as a rational expression of the 
     compassionate conservatism that you promised the country at 
     the beginning of your Administration.
       Sovereigns in antiquity and national leaders today, 
     especially those who identify with the Christian heritage, 
     are expected to examine their war aims, strategy and tactics 
     in light of these moral principles to determine if war should 
     be pursued, and if so, to determine how these can be pursued 
     in as humane a manner as possible towards all parties to a 
     conflict. Failure to satisfy these criteria renders the war 
     aims, strategies and tactics, at a minimum, morally suspect 
     and perhaps morally unacceptable in the eyes of the Church 
     universal and under the gaze of a just and Holy God.
       We note the rising voices from all parts of America 
     pleading for restraint, reflection and prudence in 
     considering war against Iraq. Notable conservatives from your 
     own party with significant prior foreign policy experiences, 
     such as Brent Scowcroft and Lawrence S. Eagleburger, have 
     counseled against this war. This is especially true in the 
     absence of an actual attack, or evidence of preparation for 
     it against the United States that could be put forth for 
     public review.
       We also note the similar wise counsel against the rush to 
     war from your own Secretary of State, General Colin L. 
     Powell, a soldier's soldier himself. Noteworthy also is the 
     recent letter from CIA Director George Tenet to the House and 
     Senate Intelligence Committees warning of the grave dangers 
     to the United States of domestic terrorism if war is waged 
     against Iraq.
       We would agree that Iraq's President, Saddam Hussein, has 
     demonstrated aggression against his neighbors in the past, 
     some of which was unopposed by the United States government. 
     We would also agree that if Iraq possessed weapons of mass 
     destruction this would be a matter of grave concern. In this 
     regard, we believe that the United States' interests are best 
     served by using the existing mechanisms of international law, 
     collaboration and consultation with our allies and the use of 
     existing United Nations resolutions to support the work of 
     weapons inspectors so they may detect and destroy any weapons 
     of mass destruction found in Iraq.
       However, we do not find any moral justification for a pre-
     emptive strike in the absence of an attack, or real threat of 
     an attack, upon the United States. A military strike of this 
     nature puts the United States in the posture of aggressive 
     warfare, not defense, which is precisely the behavior that 
     we, and your Administration, deplore in the Iraqi regime.
       We recall the moral witness of the Reverend Dr. Martin 
     Luther King, Jr., forty years ago when the United States 
     launched its military excursion into Southeast Asia without 
     significant prior public debate. In retrospect, had the 
     American people been able to engage in a free public debate 
     on the military aims and process, tens of thousands of lives 
     on all sides of the conflict might have been spared.
       As Church leaders, we painfully remember that while Blacks 
     were struggling to secure full civil rights in the American 
     South, our youth were sent off to fight and die in an 
     undeclared war whose military and political objectives were 
     unclear. We do not wish to see more young Americans die in a 
     new war whose goals are ill-defined.
       Money spent on war to destroy lives could instead be used 
     to save lives by financing the alleviation of the impending 
     famines in southern Africa, or to provide clean 
     drinking water to enhance the health of hundreds of 
     thousands of poor, defenseless men, women and children 
     throughout that continent.
       These resources could also be productively directed toward 
     providing treatment and prevention services for those 
     afflicted by the HIV/AIDS holocaust in Africa, the United 
     States and other countries around the world. Not to forget 
     the blight and ravages of economic depression in Appalachia 
     and the inner cities of America.
       As those who are representative of the many churches that 
     serve the spiritual and social needs of millions of Blacks 
     and other ethnicities in America, we humbly ask your 
     Administration to stay the hands of war and vengeance and 
     instead yield to the rule of law and the inherent disposition 
     toward peace that is central to America's Christian heritage. 
     We call upon your decision makers to reflect upon the 
     inspired Biblical witness of the Apostle James:
       ``What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they 
     come from your desires that battle within you? You want 
     something but you don't get it. You kill and covet, but you 
     cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not 
     have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not 
     receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may 
     spend what you get on your pleasures.'' (Saint James 4:1-3)
       Surely our nation and its leaders can examine their own 
     intentions in light of Holy Scripture before setting their 
     feet upon the blood-soaked path of war, whose ultimate 
     outcome is known with certainty only by the Maker of us all.
       We pledge to pray for you and your Administration, that you 
     might encounter the Divine Wisdom in this matter.
           In Christ,
                                                   G.E. Patterson,
     Presiding Bishop.

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