Episcopal Press and News
Griswold Joins Church Leaders in Call for End to Embargo of Iraq
Episcopal News Service. October 6, 1999 [99-146]
(ENS) Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold joined 23 other top American religious leaders in signing a letter to President Bill Clinton, asking him to lift the nine-year economic embargo of Iraq.
"We have long been deeply concerned by clear evidence that the embargo against Iraq is contributing to falling living standards and life expectancy," said the September 27 letter written by Bishop Craig Anderson, former dean of the General Seminary in New York and now head of St. Paul's School in New Hampshire. He is completing a two-year term as president of the National Council of Churches.
"By almost every measure -- such as malnutrition, child mortality and overall morbidity -- the situation of most Iraqi civilians has deteriorated markedly..." said the letter. It cited a United Nations report that concluded, "The gravity of the humanitarian situation of the Iraqi people is indisputable and cannot be overstated."
Pointing to what it called "a deepening social and humanitarian crisis," the letter said, "The scale of this suffering requires a prompt, effective response." As a result of the sanctions imposed following the Gulf War, "the economy of Iraq has virtually collapsed."
Admitting that "the embargo is by no means the sole cause of the continuing suffering of the Iraqi people," the church leaders contended that the Iraqi government's callous responses to the needs of its people "do not relieve the international community of its responsibility to end the dreadful suffering caused by the embargo. The international community cannot pursue its legitimate goal of eliminating Iraq's weapons of mass destruction by threatening the lives and livelihood of innocent people. Continuing to do so effectively punishes the Iraqi people for the misdeeds of an authoritarian regime over which they have no control."
The letter called for lifting "restrictions on normal trade in civilian goods" but "retaining appropriate political sanctions and a strict embargo on military-related items." It advocated "fresh thinking and new approaches" in dealing with Iraq's determination to "retain weapons of mass destruction." It underscored the goal of "establishing in the Middle East a zone free of weapons of mass destruction."