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Bishops not justified { November 14 2002 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)    http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/politics/politics-iraq-usa-bishops.html http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/politics/politics-iraq-usa-bishops.html November 14, 2002 US Catholic Bishops Say Iraq War Not Justified By REUTERS Filed at 11:45 a.m. ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - America's Catholic bishops urged President Bush and other world leaders to ``step back from the brink of war'' with Iraq, saying it is not clear such a conflict would be justified. ``Based on the facts that are known to us, we continue to find it difficult to justify the resort to war against Iraq, lacking clear and adequate evidence of an imminent attack of a grave nature,'' the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said in a statement released late on Wednesday. The statement, approved at the group's national meeting in Washington, said Baghdad must ``cease its internal repression, end its threats to its neighbors, stop any support for terrorism, abandon its efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction and destroy all such existing weapons.'' But the bishops questioned whether the aim of bringing Iraq into compliance with United Nations resolutions on weapons inspections and other matters justified a war. ``We fear that a resort to war, under present circumstances ... would not meet the strict conditions in Catholic teaching for overriding the strong presumption against the use of military force,'' the bishops said. They said church catechism limited just cause for war to cases where ``the damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations (is) lasting, grave and certain.'' The bishops said they were ``deeply concerned'' by proposals to expand traditional limits on just cause to include ``preventive uses of military force to overthrow threatening regimes or to deal with weapons of mass destruction.'' It is one thing to try to change unacceptable behavior of a government, the bishops said, and quite another to try ``to end that government's existence.'' Although recognizing that failure to take military action in Iraq could have its own drawbacks, the bishops worried that ``the use of force might provoke the very kind of attacks that it is intended to prevent, could impose terrible new burdens on an already long-suffering civilian population and could lead to wider conflict and instability in the region.'' The statement urged Bush and other world leaders to ``find the will and the ways to step back from the brink of war with Iraq and work for a peace that is just and enduring.'' Copyright Reuters Ltd. | Privacy Policy

Archbishop warns nuclear Bishop question war { November 15 2002 } Bishops moral object Bishops not justified { November 14 2002 } British church leaders { September 5 2002 } Catholic no justify war Clergy bishop { October 15 2002 } Coalition churches against war { January 24 2003 } Hard to justify { November 14 2002 } Muffled bishops voice { November 13 2002 } Pope calls fast for peace { March 5 2003 } Pope deeply worried Pope plea peace { December 25 2002 } Pope tells iraqi opposes war { February 14 2003 } Pope wants peace in land of jesus Questions sanctions { March 5 2003 } Vatican top official Files Listed: 17

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