Easter of Hope in Middle East?

Last week, while U.S. troops began liberating Baghdad from the ruthless Saddam Hussein regime, I attended a private briefing with Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld at the Pentagon. I was part of a small group of people invited to a comprehensive briefing on the progress on the wars in Iraq and against international terrorism. The group consisted of several prominent religious leaders from the Protestant, Jewish, and Muslim faiths as well Theodore Cardinal McCarrick, Catholic Archbishop of Washington, D.C.

Secretary Rumsfeld provided extensive background information on a number of issues from the continuing conflict between Israel and Palestine, humanitarian relief for the suffering people of Iraq, human rights, financing of the war effort, a post-war Iraqi government and the future of the United Nations. Secretary Rumsfeld was profuse in his praise for the dedication of the American military and our superior modern military technology. He also restated unequivocally that the Iraqi people themselves would ultimately determine the future of Iraq, not the United States. He did, however, express his disappointment with the media coverage of the war and how the Iraqi Minister of Information continually used the Western media to misinform the world community. This misinformation continued for months and it often complicated the "Coalition's" objective to bring freedom and peace to the people of Iraq. He stressed that despite the many serious problems with the press, the American people were able to see through the lies and distortions coming from the Hussein regime.

Both Cardinal McCarrick and I urge President Bush to now focus his attention on the Israeli-Palestinian crisis. Without a resolution to that problem, the entire Middle East will remain in turmoil. British Prime Minister Tony Blair emphatically expressed the same opinion to President Bush in recent summit meetings. As the National President of American Catholic Alliance, it is clear to me that American Catholics must get involved and convince the president and Congress to pursue human rights for all the people of Israel and Palestine. Independent statehood for a safe and peaceful Palestine and Israel must be a U.S. priority. Without the active involvement of concerned American Catholics, we will continue to see chaos and bloodshed in the Middle East. The U.S. government must assume the role of peacemaker and begin fair and just negations to bring about a lasting resolution. I am not optimistic, though, that there is either the political will or inclination to do so. Neither national political party has demonstrated in the past such a willingness.

Additionally, I emphasized to the Bush administration that despite the success in Iraq, the economy would now become the key issue in our nation. Middle-class working families feel betrayed by both Republicans and Democrats by the way in which they mismanaged the economy. This is another major area of concern in which American Catholics must play an active role.

Let this Easter of hope be a beginning for peace and human rights in the Middle East and a return to social and economic justice in the United States, the cornerstones of Catholic social teaching.

__________________________________________

Raymond Flynn is the National President of American Catholic Alliance, former U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican, Mayor of Boston and best selling author of "The Accidental Pope" and "John Paul II, A Personal Portrait of the Pope and the Man".

Both books are available in paperback at Catholic Online Bookstore - https://www.catholic.org/bookstore or www.barnesandnoble.com and www.amazon.com. (See biography on www.catholic.org)

Contact

Catholic Online
https://www.catholic.org CA, US
Ray Flynn - Former U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican, 661 869-1000

Email

colirf@catholic.org

Keywords

Iraq

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