| UM Church leader urges Bush not to attack Iraq By Joretta Purdue United Methodist News Service The chief staff executive of the United Methodist Churchs advocacy and action agency is calling on the White House not to attack Iraq but to seek a peaceful solution through the United Nations.  The Bush administration has declared its intent to launch a war against Iraq, ignoring the advice of its allies, many members of Congress, key experts and millions of U.S. citizens, said Jim Winkler, staff head of the denominations Board of Church and Society, in an Aug. 30 statement. With unprecedented disregard for democratic ideals and with an astonishing lack of evidence justifying such a pre-emptive attack, the president has all but given the order to fire, he said. He urged United Methodists to oppose this reckless measure and to encourage President Bush to find peaceful means for resolving the threat posed by Iraq. U.S. officials are concerned about reports that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein has stockpiled weapons of mass destruction. Our church categorically opposes interventions by more powerful nations against weaker ones, Winkler said. We recognize the first moral duty of all nations is to resolve by peaceful means every dispute that arises between or among nations. He cited the denominations resolution Support for Self-Determination and Nonintervention, originally passed by the General Conference, the denominations highest legislative body, in 1988, then amended and readopted in 2000.  United Methodists have a particular duty to speak out against an unprovoked attack, Winkler said. President Bush and Vice President Cheney are members of our denomination. Our silence now could be interpreted as tacit approval of war.
I beseech the president and vice president to provide leadership into a new era of Christian discipleship, he said. We must as a people and nation recast our personal and national priorities so that Gods creation and the needs of the least, the last, and the lost are first in our hearts. The conflict between the United States and Iraq can and should be dealt with by the United Nations, Winkler said. No member nation has the right to take unilateral military action without the approval of the U.N. Security Council, approval the United States has not received. Without such approval, the United States will stand in violation of international law. Questions of noncompliance with weapons inspections should be handled by the United Nations, Winkler said. A pre-emptive war represents a major and dangerous change in U.S. foreign policy, he said. It also sets a terrible precedent for other nations. Pre-emptive war cannot become a universalized principle, lest disaster and chaos result. This would not be a just war, Winkler stated. Proof of a real threat to the United States has not been offered, he said, noting that no evidence has shown that Iraq has a nuclear warhead aimed at the United States or even deliverable weapons of mass destruction. No case can be made that a war against Iraq is justified for the self-defense of the United States. Further, Iraqs neighbors are not calling for assistance from the United States. Winkler raised questions about the potential loss of life on all sides, the financial costs of a war and its aftermath, and the consequences for the future of Iraq. Congress must exercise its constitutional responsibilities and vote on the question of undertaking an invasion of Iraq, he wrote. He urged United Methodists to take seriously Jesus instructions to be peacemakers and seek justice. We must speak out now to the president, members of Congress and our local media that the path upon which the president seeks to embark is counter to the teachings of Jesus, [is] inconsistent with the position of the United Methodist Church. | 
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