Global Ministries among organizations opposing military strikes against Syria
#Syria
Global Ministries of the United Church of Christ and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) joined a coalition of organizations in a letter sent to President Obama, urging the US not to strike Syria militarily. The letter, sent to the White House on Wednesday, states, “While we unequivocally condemn any use of chemical weapons along with continued indiscriminate killing of civilians and other violations of international humanitarian law, military strikes are not the answer.” The full text of the letter follows:
August 28, 2013
Dear President Obama,
We, the undersigned organizations, are writing to express our grave concerns with your reported plans to intervene militarily in Syria. While we unequivocally condemn any use of chemical weapons along with continued indiscriminate killing of civilians and other violations of international humanitarian law, military strikes are not the answer. Rather than bringing an end to the violence that has already cost more than 100,000 lives, they threaten to widen the vicious civil war in Syria and undermine prospects to de-escalate the conflict and eventually reach a negotiated settlement.
In the course of more than 2 years of war, much of Syria has been destroyed and nearly 2 million people – half of them children – have been forced to flee to neighboring countries. We thank you for the generous humanitarian assistance the US has provided to support the nearly 1 in 3 Syrians – 8 million people – in need of aid. But such assistance is not enough.
As the U.S. government itself has recognized, there is no solution to the crisis other than a political one. Instead of pursuing military strikes and arming parties to the conflict, we urge your administration to intensify diplomatic efforts to stop the bloodshed, before Syria is destroyed and the region further destabilized.
Sincerely,
Friends Committee on National Legislation
American Friends Service Committee
Church of the Brethren
Code Pink
CREDO Action
Democrats.com
Fellowship of Reconciliation
Global Ministries of the United Church of Christ and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Historians Against the War
Just Foreign Policy
New Internationalism Project, Institute for Policy Studies
Oxfam America
Peace Action
Peace Education Fund
Physicians for Social Responsibility
Presbyterian Church, USA
Progressive Democrats of America
RootsAction.org
Shomer Shalom Network for Jewish Nonviolence
United Methodist Church, General Board of Church and Society
USAction
Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity
Veterans for Peace
Voices for Creative Nonviolence
Women’s Action for New Directions
This letter follows a previous letter sent to the President urging the U.S. administration to continue to support efforts to provide humanitarian relief and to commit to support negotiations to resolve the conflict.
The United Church of Christ and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) are responding to the humanitarian need of refugees and internally displaced Syrians through several partners in the Middle East.