Dear Mr. President:
On behalf of the General Assembly of the
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) I send greetings, in the name of Jesus
Christ, and wishes of good health to you, your family and staff in
this Advent season.
In an earlier letter to you, I shared the urging of
the 214th General Assembly (2002) for the United States government to
exercise restraint in its contemplated military action against Iraq
and to end all economic sanctions against Iraq.
We are grateful that the United States, in recent
months, has chosen a cooperative approach through the United Nations,
rather than unilateral preemptive military action to insure that Iraq
complies with United Nations resolutions calling for the removal and
destruction of all weapons of mass destruction. Our General Assemblies
have affirmed on many occasions the importance of the UN and its
decisions in the search for peace in the world. We are encouraged by
reports from the UN and from other sources that Iraq seems, thus far,
to have given full cooperation to the weapons inspectors, even in the
case of surprise visits to palace sites.
We urge you to do everything in your power to
encourage the United Nations inspection process. It is imperative for
all that this be a successful effort. We urge you to recognize that no
such process is perfect and that achieving the goal of complete
disarmament may require special diplomatic effort to work out
misunderstandings that may occur in the process of verifying the data
reported by Iraq.
While the potential and real threat of military
intervention by the U.S. is clearly a factor in motivating the
government of Iraq to comply with the demands of the United Nations,
we would suggest that a more positive motivating factor would be the
offer, if full compliance is achieved, to lift the economic sanctions
that have been so devastating for the Iraqi people. This would provide
an incentive for the government of Iraq to redirect its resources
towards enterprises that will benefit the Iraqi people.
As Christians, we believe that nothing in life or in
death can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The confessions of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) declare that it is
this reconciling love that "is the ground of the peace, justice
and freedom among nations which all powers of government are called to
serve and defend. [We] are called to practice the forgiveness of
enemies and to commend to the nations as practical politics a search
for cooperation and peace."
Understanding the weight of your office, and the
role of your faith as you face the many challenges of the Presidency,
we assure you of our prayers, and we trust that God will guide you
with wisdom as you struggle with the possibility of war in the Season
of the Prince of Peace.
Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick
Stated Clerk, Presbyterian Church (USA)
