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Earlier today, Pax Christi USA released an official statement on Syria. The statement was written in collaboration with former Pax Christi USA National Council member Scott Wright. The beginning of the statement is below with a link to the entire statement on the Pax Christi USA website. We hope this is of use to you and your groups as you work to avert a U.S. military strike in Syria.
Pax Christi USA Official Statement on Syria: War is Still a Defeat for Humanity
"We reject war, preparations for war, and every form of violence and domination, and promote the gospel imperative of peacemaking as a priority in the Catholic Church in the United States." - from the mission statement for Pax Christi USA
Saturday, August 31, 2013: The headlines read: "U.S. officials signal Syria strike is near." "Inaction would show a 'paralyzed' world, Obama says." "Kerry cites 'clear' evidence regime used chemical weapons." By the time this statement is released, the U.S. may likely have initiated military strikes in Syria, itself an act of war.
No one questions the obscenity of murdering a thousand people - many of them children - with poison gas, nor the moral indignation that people around the world feel at this atrocity and crime against humanity. The more than 100,000 deaths from two years of a cruel fratricidal war in Syria, and the cruelty of the Bashar al-Assad regime against its own people, speak to the obscenity of war.
What many do question, however, including military veterans in Congress, is the wisdom of a military strike by the U.S. in Syria. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq also began with military strikes, caused the destruction of hundreds of thousands of Afghan, Iraqi, and American lives, and lasted more than a decade after 9/11...
Click here to read the entire statement.
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