UUSC Statement on Iraq                                                                                   

UUSC continues to oppose the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

Today, as U.S. military actions in Iraq grind into a fifth year, a majority of the people in the United States disapprove of the way President Bush is handling the Iraq war. Meanwhile, according to a recent BBC/ABC news poll, 82 percent of the Iraqi people lacked confidence in coalition forces, and 69 percent think they have made the situation worse. The humanitarian crisis continues to grow as more than 4 million Iraqi citizens are now displaced by the war, and 2 million of those have left the country as refugees.

UUSC recognizes that Iraq could be further destabilized by a precipitous U.S. withdrawal. However, Iraq is being destabilized on a daily basis by the presence of a U.S. occupying force that is targeted by various factions in an emerging civil war.

UUSC urgently calls on the U.S. government to work with the United Nations, Arab League, NATO, and other international agencies, as well as the wider international community, to bring about a ceasefire that would permit a rapid and orderly U.S. withdrawal. This will require the introduction of an international force to provide stability, a negotiated political settlement among Iraqi factions, and a plan to rebuild that nation’s infrastructure along with the provision of international humanitarian assistance. Finally, UUSC calls on the U.S. government to make an unequivocal declaration that we have no intention of maintaining a long-term military presence in Iraq.

UUSC is proud to be part of a growing peace movement in the United States that is working to bring an end to this war; to support our nation’s men and women as they return from Iraq, Afghanistan, and other countries; and to rectify the grave harm caused to our nation’s reputation by the events in Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo Bay, and in the use of secret prisons.

As part of its opposition to this war, UUSC works with military, veterans, and human rights organizations to achieve our goals. In addition, UUSC is an active member of the Win Without War Coalition, and regularly shares news of coalition activities with its members and supporters, and Unitarian Universalist congregations.

June 2007