Pax Christi USA, the U.S. Catholic Conference (USCC), Pope John Paul II, and many individual bishops were united in the chorus of protests successfully persuading the Clinton administration in late February to forego bombing Iraq, at least for now. And many of the same Catholic voices are urging abandonment, or drastic curtailment, of U.S.-led economic sanctions against Iraq.

Official letters from the Catholic hierarchy against military action were sent Feb. 5 by Newark, N.J., Archbishop Theodore McCarrick, chair of the USCC International Policy Committee, with copies to every U.S. bishop, and Feb. 12 by USCC President, Bishop Anthony Pilla of Cleveland, Ohio and the seven U.S. cardinal-archbishops. Both letters repeated the U.S. Bishops' earlier call to redirect economic sanctions away from innocent Iraqi civilians.

Fears of imminent U.S. bombing of Iraq threw a cloud over the USCC annual Social Ministry Gathering on Capitol Hill Feb. 22-25. CTA co-director Dan Daley was there as usual, and joined several hundred peace and justice leaders from U.S. dioceses and organizations in signing a letter to President Clinton opposing the military action.

Pax Christi takes lead

The most prophetic Catholic voice against both military action and economic sanctions has been Pax Christi USA -- the movement which received CTA's 1997 Leadership Award and funds from the CTA Offertory Collection last November. A candlelight ecumenical prayer vigil sponsored by Pax Christi at the White House Feb. 25, Ash Wednesday, was unequivocal in calling for an end to the "devastating sanctions against Iraq." CTA and other USCC conferees took part. Some participants were arrested for civil disobedience.

Pax Christi opposition to the U.S. embargo against Iraq is long-standing, but is receiving more notice in the blizzard of media attention to threatened air strikes. On Jan. 20 54 U.S. bishops, most of them Pax Christi members, signed a joint letter to President Clinton arguing that the U.N. sanctions against the Iraqi people since the 1991 Gulf War are immoral and should be ended. The Pax Christi fact sheet about the sanctions states that:

• A U.N. agency reports that over a million Iraqi civilians have died as a direct result, including 573,000 children.
• UNICEF says 4,500 Iraqi children under age 5 are dying each month from hunger and disease.
• In the brief Gulf War, U.S.-led forces dropped 85,000 tons of bombs on Iraq, more than fell on Europe in World War II. Electric power, water and sewage treatment plants, vital to public health, were destroyed. Sanctions prevent Iraq from rebuilding them, so disease is rampant.
• In January the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Iraq said it would take roughly $30 billion per year for Iraq to meet its current requirements for food, medicine and infrastructure.
• The recent doubling of the U.N. "oil for food" deal from $2.6 billion to $5.2 billion falls far short of basic needs, and doesn't begin to rebuild Iraq's infrastructure, medical system or economy.

Regional CTAs act for Iraqi peace.