Nuns' coalition urges withdrawal from Iraq, condemns pre-emptive war

Published: 2006-10-23

CINCINNATI (CNS) -- The board of the National Coalition of American Nuns has asked the U.S. bishops to urge "a swift and complete exit of our troops from Iraqi soil" and to condemn the U.S. pre-emptive war policy underlying the invasion of Iraq. In a statement approved Oct. 9 at a board meeting in Cincinnati, the coalition called on the U.S. bishops to urge the world community to deploy a U.N. peacekeeping force to stabilize Iraq and to urge the U.S. and its allies to provide reparations for rebuilding the country. It also said the bishops should review the "validity of a 'just-war' doctrine in a nuclear age." Just-war theory provides criteria for determining when a war is justifiable. The main elements include that the war be in self-defense, the war is the last resort and civilians are not deliberately targeted. "In a world that has honed its methods of dialogue and has become enlightened by models of nonviolent conflict resolution, can we ever really exhaust peaceful alternatives?" the statement asked.

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