Commissioners to be asked to admit 'complicity' in Iraqi prisoner abuse case By Craig M. Kibler The Layman Online Thursday, June 10, 2004 Commissioners to the 216th General Assembly will be asked to admit, on behalf of the Presbyterian Church (USA), its "complicity as part of U.S. society" in the abuse of Iraqi prisoners. The Worldwide Ministries Division – "in concurrence with the Congregational and National Ministries Divisions" – in proposing to the General Assembly Council that it recommend such a resolution be adopted, is seeking to have commissioners "call upon the whole Presbyterian Church (USA) to join … in repentance for our complicity in the culture leading to the acts of violence and abuse in Iraq." The resolution also seeks to have a letter sent to all "congregations, Middle Governing Bodies and appropriate international partners" that says the incidents of abuse "are not the isolated acts of a few 'bad apples' whose goal is violence. They are small parts of larger cultures…." The letter praises Muslims, but criticizes Christians. "If Muslims can speak, as they have done, of the murder of Mr. Berg as a violation of the Quran, and express contrition and shame that this reprehensible act was done in the name of Islam," the letter says, "can we not, as U.S. Christians, speak with equally contrite hearts to the people of Iraq, voicing our shame that their fellow citizens should have been subjected to torture, humiliation and death in the name of 'Iraqi Freedom.'" In a cover sheet, the Worldwide Ministries Division warns that "it is felt that there may be a Commissioner's Resolution on this issue" and that "a response such as this may be helpful to the Assembly." The resolution is an outgrowth of a campaign by Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick targeting supposed American complicity in violence and oppression as part of a World Council of Churches campaign that implicitly states President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair should be charged with war crimes over Iraq. Kirkpatrick, a member of the WCC's Central Committee that drew up the "Decade to Overcome Violence" program, said, "If ever there was a part of the world where work for peace is important, it is the USA. We live in a nation where the cause of peace needs a much greater emphasis." The announcement of the campaign, made August 29, 2003, primarily was spurred by the war in Iraq, which led the WCC to select the United States as a nation that is especially prone to violence. The announcement followed a March 20 statement by the Rev. Dr. Konrad Raiser, then-general secretary of the WCC, in which he said the "pre-emptive military attack against Iraq is immoral, illegal and ill-advised." He specifically condemned the "US, the UK and Spain," called on them "to immediately cease all military activity in Iraq" and urged "all governments to oppose this unilateral action and work for a cease-fire." Besides the war in Iraq, the war against terrorism and the refusal of the United States to sign international treaties about Global Warming and land mines, the WCC was angry about the supposed role of the U.S. in promoting poverty, racism, "cultural imperialism," and inequality in education and unemployment. Also of concern were domestic violence and the lack of gun control in the U.S. When deciding to make the U.S. the focus of the WCC's anti-violence work in 2004, the WCC Central Committee complained that the "ideals of democracy and freedom, of economic success, have been compromised [in the U.S.] by injustice, [and] a too arrogant and unilateral approach to international concerns." WCC statement Shortly thereafter, the WCC Central Committee released a statement on Iraq that implied Bush and Blair should be charged with war crimes, urging the "relevant UN mechanisms to promptly investigate, gather any evidence of violations of … war crimes and crimes against humanity, violations of international humanitarian law including the illegal resort to war, and to prosecute all such crimes" and demanded the "occupying powers to provide for full reparations to the Iraqi people for damages caused and precipitated by the unlawful use of military force." That implication – affirmed by a World Council of Churches official and published by the Presbyterian News Service – touched off a firestorm of protests. After numerous Presbyterians contacted his office to criticize him, Kirkpatrick later denied that he personally favored war-crime trials of Bush and Blair. The protests also prompted Kirkpatrick's office to post on its Web site what it called a "Clarification of WCC Statement on Iraq." That statement said the "resolution on Iraq specifies no nation's leader for condemnation. There is no mention of either President George W. Bush or Prime Minister Tony Blair in the statement." It also said that the "resolution reaffirmed previous WCC statements" which includes that of Raiser. Contrast with Sudan As Mark Tooley of the Institute on Religion and Democracy reported at the time, "Such specificity about U.S. misdeeds contrasts with the WCC's approach toward last year's country of concern for the ["Decade to Overcome Violence"], which was Sudan. The WCC said nary a word of criticism against Sudan's Islamist government, which has waged a 20-year long war against the non-Muslim south, resulting in 2 million deaths. There is no mention of ethnic cleansing, the imposition of sharia (slavery) or deliberate bombardment of civilian targets. Instead, the WCC focused abstractly upon the tragedy of war and commended Sudanese churches for their role in peace negotiations." "That those very churches have been the primary targets of Islamic jihad was not evidently a reason for concern by the WCC, which preferred not to fault anybody specifically for the horrific conflict in Sudan," he wrote. In his May 4, 2004 letter to the church promoting the "Decade to Overcome Violence," Kirkpatrick doesn't mention Iraq or the war on terrorism, and says that the United States "was chosen for many reasons, including the enormous global influence of our country, our deep historical struggle with violence, and the greater prominence of churches in the U.S. in comparison to many parts of the world." Other policy before 216th General Assembly While acknowledging that Presbyterians have different opinions about the U.S.-led war on Iraq, the denomination's social policy agency takes the side of those, like the WCC and the National Council of Churches, who believe the invasion was "unwise, immoral and illegal." The Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy will ask commissioners to rule that the "General Assembly concurs with this judgment" when it submits a 17-page policy statement titled "Iraq: Our Responsibility and the Future" to the 216th General Assembly for final action when it meets in June in Richmond, Va. Proposed during a presidential election season, the Iraqi statement is highly partisan. It stridently opposes the military action that led to the end of Saddam Hussein's rein of terror and his slaughter of thousands of people. The statement concludes that the military action could not pass muster as a "just" war because it was an attack without provocation. The report makes a number of unquestioned assertions that conflict with congressional action that gave Bush the authority to strike against Iraq. For instance, without considering the contrary view of national leaders, the report states that the attack "is not directly or necessarily connected to the effort to deal with the threat of terrorism." It calls for the United Nations – and not the United States – to assume the major responsibility for rebuilding Iraq and facilitating "the transition to peace, freedom and participatory government in Iraq." One of the late substitutions in the document was the word "participatory," which replaced democracy. Kirkpatrick commended It commends Kirkpatrick "for his strong leadership in opposing, on the basis of previous General Assembly policies, the U.S.-led intervention in Iraq, and for his leadership among world religious leaders in calling for interfaith cooperation to address the crisis created by this action for relations between Christians and Muslims." Further, it expressed regret that the Bush administration refused to meet with "religious leaders seeking to offer a full explanation of their opposition to an invasion of Iraq." The "religious leaders" cited by the document are principally members of the World Council of Churches and the National Council of Churches. Kirkpatrick has been a leader in both organizations and has helped secure major funding for them from the PCUSA despite their low priority ratings among Presbyterians.

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