POSSIBLE MILITARY CONFLICT THREATENS PEACEFUL CITIZENS MOSTLY. Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad answers questions of the ‘RIA-Novosty’ Information Agency on the situation in Iraq (RIA ‘Novosty’ 14 January 2003)
24.01.2003 · English
‘POSSIBLE MILITARY CONFLICT THREATENS PEACEFUL CITIZENS MOSTLY’
Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad answers questions of the ‘RIA-Novosty’ Information Agency on the situation in Iraq
(RIA ‘Novosty’ 14 January 2003)
Q. Your Eminence, situation in Iraq attracts attention of world-wide public. This theme has been on the front pages for several months. What is your vision of the problem? What ways of overcoming the crisis you consider acceptable?
A. The situation around Iraq is a knot of ideological, ethnic, political and economic contradictions that have been generated for more than one decade. The temptation to cut this knot at one stroke is great, but that will not bring about the resolution of the problem.
We share concern of the world community over the proliferation of the weapons of mass destruction. However, the accents in the armed confrontation have been shifted. We remember only too well that the terrorists who attacked the World Trade Centerused neither nuclear warheads nor chemical or bacteriological weapons, but the control wheels of airliners.
I am deeply convinced that we can and should overcome the danger of the proliferation of the weapons of mass destruction only by peaceful diplomatic means in compliance with the international law and resolutions of the UN Security Council. Double standards should be avoided. Why, for example, do some countries that are not included in the ‘Nuclear Five’, but officially or semi-officially possess nuclear weapons, enjoy USA support while Iraq, which is only ‘under suspicion’ of possessing it, has suffered economic blockade and sanctions threatening life and health of innocent children for many years?
Q. What do you think about the consequences of military action of the USA and Great Britain against Iraq?
A. Historical experience shows that it is often easy to unleash a war, but it is difficult to finish it. Nobody could foresee all the consequences of the war. It is especially true for such a complicated region as the Middle East.
The military conflict will bring innumerable sufferings to peaceful population even in case of the so-called target strokes. Recent bombing of Yugoslavia by NATO aviation confirms the seriousness of this threat. After all, modern weapon that is not included in the category of the weapons of mass destruction formally, yields to it in destructive power only slightly.
Military actions will aggravate the already hard economic situation in Iraq, contribute to its further slipping down to poverty and expose the Iraqis to national humiliation that always provoke conflicts, hostility, and intolerance. Just and peaceful life in the Middle East will be a matter of a far-distanced future.
The consequences of the war will affect the whole world and shake economic systems of many countries. It is well known that all economic systems are very sensible to changes of prices for petroleum, which military actions will inevitably entail. Even today a possible military attack against Iraq provoke negative reaction in the Arab world, and it will be aggravated in case of the large-scale military actions and may grow into a powerful splash of violence, which will go beyond the frontiers of the Arab countries. The transparency of the frontiers creates a possibility of ‘force projection’ by desperate people to any country even if this country is strong in economic and military spheres.
Q. Possible military action against Iraq undoubtedly concerns the followers of different confessions. How the believers in Russia and the world reacted to the threat of military action?
A. The Orthodox Church calls to resolve any conflict through mutually acceptable decisions. It also calls to remember that war, even a victorious one for the government, is an inevitable defeat for the families of the lost soldiers.
Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople shares position of the American and British opponents to the war in Iraq. He said that war would bring about catastrophic consequences to the Gulf region and pose a threat to stability and security in the whole world. The hierarchs of the Moscow Patriarchate joined in the demand of peaceful resolution of the Iraqi crisis. For instance, Bishop Mercury of Zaraisk, administrator of the Patriarchal parishes in the USA, signed an appeal of the Orthodox bishops, clergymen and laymen of North America to allow no military actions against Iraq.
The US Catholics stated that preventive strikes were uacceptable. Representatives of other Christian confessions share their opinion. The Vatican, the World Council of Churches and many Protestant denominations resolutely reject a military scenario for the development of the situation. The Archbishop of Canterbury called for peaceful resolution of the Iraq crisis. The Muslim and Jewish communities in the United States and Europe also came forward against the war in Iraq.
This unity of mind of the representatives of different confessions is not surprising, as all people of good will are convinced that the nations should aspire for peace, mutual assistance and cooperation in their relations. In conclusion I would like to express my hope that numerous appeals of religious leaders of the world will be heard and that it will be possible to avoid hostilities.
See also: