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Why Iraq?

Traveling to Iraq: Dec. 2001 Delegation

What about a humanitarian crisis?

Why should we care? The role of the US

What can I do? What can we do?

Since 1990, the United States government has led the United Nations Security Council in the Iraq sanctions policy and in military threat against Iraq.

While the French, Russian and Chinese governments decided that Iraq was no longer a threat and sought to remove economic sanctions, the US and British governments disallowed any change in the embargo by their veto power. Essentially, successive US administrations sought a policy of "containment" of the Iraqi government's economic, political and military capacities with a strategy explicitly aimed at harming its civilian population.

After the Gulf War that devastated Iraq in 1991, the US unilaterally declared a "no fly zone" over two-thirds of the country. US and British warplanes have since patrolled and periodically bombed hundreds of sites in Iraq. This culminated in a three-day bombardment of Iraq by the US in December 1998. Unfortunately, regular over flights and bombings continue to this day, resulting in hundreds more killed and injured Iraqi people.

So if a US citizen asks, "why should I care?" the answer begins then with, "our government has intentionally inflicted suffering on this far away people - through its political, economic and military might." Jesus Christ called his disciples to go one step further, to love our neighbors, even far away neighbors who are different from us. (Luke 10:25-37)

The Real Price of Oil

The people of Iraq are tied to the people of the United States in another important way - the production and use of oil. Iraqis produce it. We use it.

The borders of Iraq contain the second largest known oil reserves of any country in the world. Iraq is of great strategic value to US political, economic and military institutions. In part, these institutions respond to the demand from those who consume more oil than any other people in the world - US citizens. Even with limited production capacity, 50% of Iraq's legally exported oil finds its way to the US, according to a Brookings Institution Report of November 2001. This accounts for about 10% of all oil used in the US In short, we Americans rely on cheap oil from Iraq to keep our lifestyles comfortable. And we rely on the US military to enforce that comfort.

Why not just lift sanctions? Why not just allow Iraqi civilians to participate in a healthy trading economy? Why not just allow Iraq to freely export oil on the open market? The answers are complex. But one major factor is that Russian and French oil companies have now entered into pending contracts with the Iraqi government to develop new oil fields and modernize existing Iraqi oil production. If the sanctions are lifted under the current regime, US oil companies will have to import oil through these Russian and French companies with minimal profits. If a new pro-US regime were to take power, US companies would instead gain a profitable long-term foothold. They stand to make far more money. But at whose expense?

Members of the Church of the Brethren delegation to Iraq examint a "cluster bomb" made in the USA, a weapon designed to kill people - men, women and children.

The Real Price of Security

US defense industries also benefit immensely from regional insecurity. When the US government threatens Iraq with forcible "regime change," it greatly destabilizes the whole region: Iraq tightens its borders, clamps down on civil liberties and uses the threat of the US as a justification for its own military buildup. Although Iraq has no offensive military capability now, under the environment of a US threat, it will probably develop that. So as a result of the insecurity provoked by the US, other countries in the region may ultimately be driven to rely on the world's main supplier of weapons, also the United States. Again, we supposedly profit, but at whose expense?

The people of Iraq are most deeply and harmfully affected by the US policies of economic embargo, military attacks and military threat. They still suffer from the long-term affects of a war we have largely forgotten. They suffer from economic stagnation. They suffer from a miserable public health crisis. They suffer under their own regime, which is increasingly repressive under increasing threat. The Iraqi regime does not physically suffer. The people do. They are paying for our comfort, our greed and our perceived security as US citizens.

The Call of Jesus?

What is our role as Christians who benefit from the suffering of people in Iraq? What does God call us to do in this time of both great security and great insecurity?

The next sections explore possible steps to follow the living Jesus Christ on a path of righteousness, a path of redemption and new life, a path out of this crisis of fear.