Catholic leaders find Bush's Iraq policy too U.S.-dominated

Published: 2004-05-26

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The Iraq policy outlined by President Bush in a nationally televised speech May 24 remains too U.S.-dominated while a more multinational approach is needed, several Catholic justice and peace leaders said in telephone interviews. They said American mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners has dealt a heavy blow to U.S. moral authority in the region. "We've been in favor of a swift handover (of governance) to the Iraqi people," said Trinitarian Father Stanley W. DeBoe, justice and peace director of the Conference of Major Superiors of Men. But the U.S. plan for a transitional government taking over June 30 involves "an overwhelming U.S. presence," with U.S. military forces still in place and U.S. advisers holding key staff positions throughout that government, he said. Franciscan Sister Marie Lucey, associate director for social mission of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, said Bush indicated some movement toward making security and reconstruction in Iraq a more international effort, but "it's extremely late to look for a U.N. presence. That should have been done long ago." The CMSM and LCWR are national organizations representing the heads of U.S. men's and women's religious orders.

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