COI Archbishop John Neill ON WAR and Green Party Dissenters?

national | anti-war / imperialism | other press Tuesday July 31, 2007 17:06 by Green anti-Militarist

Immorality of War

There seems to be some principles left within the Green party, still.
Below is the text of a letter published in the Irish Times and Irish Examiner today.

War is Politically and Morally Wrong
We would like to congratulate Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, the Most Rev John Neill, on his courage and thought provoking criticism of the U.S. military and CIA use of Shannon airport. The Archbishop’s words have not only drawn attention to one of the most morally unacceptable political scandals in the history of the Irish state, but has also highlighted the deafening silence of other churches and their failure to speak out for the victims of war and military aggression. The silence of the Catholic Bishops on the Irish Government’s complicity in the Iraq War and their failure to criticise government policy on this issue does a great disservice to its congregation and to many of its clergy who have actively campaigned against this illegal war. As Kofi Annan said, “From our point of view and from the charter point of view [the Iraq war] was illegal.”

As members of the Green Party, who are continuing to campaign on this issue, we are deeply saddened and feel a certain moral responsibility for our party’s failure, thus far, to have one of its key principles, opposition to war, included in the programme for Government. We believe the continued U.S. abuse of Irish neutrality is morally and politically wrong.

We hope that the Archbishops words will encourage others, particularly those within the Catholic Church and within the political establishment to speak out.

Why must international peace always be the first casualty in political compromises? Peace was achieved in Northern Ireland by political courage and by the abandonment of guns, bombs and killing machines. The credibility and integrity of the Irish people is at stake if we continue to promote peace at home and wars abroad.
Its time to stop turning a blind eye to war, military aggression and injustice and instead to speak up for the voiceless and abandoned victims of war. The Iraq war has probably caused the deaths of over half a million people so far, including over quarter of a million children. Iraqi Children are dying so that Irish children can benefit from American investment and jobs in Ireland.
Ireland is currently complicit in these crimes against the wishes of the Irish people. We believe that in a referendum on this issue Irish people would vote against our territory being misused for such unjust and immoral purposes. But even if a majority supported Ireland’s participation in the Iraq war, it is still inherently wrong. It is a gross abuse of democracy to use Irish freedom to help kill tens of thousands of innocent “foreigners” by proxy. In this interdependent one-world community, the concept of ‘them and us’, and ‘foreigners’ should be consigned to history.
An Iraqi child is just as precious as an Irish child.
The killing of innocent people can never be in the long-term interests of the Irish people.

Signed by the following Green Party Members:
Patricia McKenna, former MEP, Cllr. Niall O’Brolchain, Cllr. Chris O’Leary, Cllr. Betty Doran, Cllr. Malcolm Noonan, Edward Horgan, Kristina McElroy and Anita Curtis.