| Peace lobbyists push Democrats; Daschle speaks
out
By JOE FEUERHERD
Washington
The representatives of Pax Christi USA, the Catholic social
justice lobby NETWORK, and American Baptist Churches USA had no way of knowing,
as they met with an aide to a leading Democratic senator Sept. 25, what was
happening on the Senate floor.
Their day had begun at 8:30 that morning. The Rev. Robert Edgar,
National Council of Churches general secretary and a former six-term member of
Congress, gave the peace lobbyists their charge: “While we may have
difficulty stopping the rush to war, we may be able to change the way they
think about the [war-authorizing] resolution. We may be able to get enough
questions asked to put it off until after the election.” Said Edgar,
“It’s important for them to know that we, as people of faith, have
something to say.”
The newly minted lobbyists -- more than 100 in total -- then
walked across the street to the three Senate office buildings. Among them was
Dominican Fr. James Barnett, fatigued but feisty on day 25 of an open-ended
fast for peace. Water bottle in hand, he joined the contingent of 10 lobbyists
who made the case to a Democratic senatorial assistant in a crowded conference
room of the once anthrax-laced Hart Office Building.
As the peace activists were expressing their concerns, Democratic
Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., took a baby step toward the type of leadership the
peace lobbyists were looking for: He lashed out at President Bush, who, in
reference to the hotly debated homeland security bill, said Senate Democrats
did not care about the nation’s security.
“We ought not politicize this war,” the normally
taciturn Daschle bellowed. “We ought not politicize the rhetoric about war
and life and death. … You tell those [Democratic senators] who fought in
Vietnam and World War II they are not interested in the security of the
American people. That is outrageous. Outrageous.”
Meanwhile, in the conference room, Sister of St. Joseph and
longtime NETWORK lobbyist Catherine Pinkerton told the Democratic leadership
aide: “I wish they would vote their conscience.”
Democrats who ultimately support a war resolution, Barnett said,
will have to embrace the arguments of the administration’s two leading
hawks, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Vice President Dick
Cheney.
The United Nations must be heeded, said the Baptist
representative, the Rev. Aidsand F. Wright-Riggins III.
“Is a just war possible?” asked the aide.
“No, no, no,” responded the ecumenical chorus.
“Absolutely not,” said one.
The Iraqi regime -- “pummeled” during the Gulf War and
weakened by a decade’s worth of sanctions -- “is no threat to its
neighbors and certainly not to us,” said Pax Christi USA national
coordinator David Robinson.
“We’re angry about the lack of leadership,” said
St. Joseph Sr. Mary Elizabeth Clark, also of NETWORK.
They weren’t the only angry ones. The front page of that
day’s Washington Post told of “dozens of congressional
Democrats … frustrated with their leadership for rushing to embrace
President Bush’s Iraqi war resolution.”
The religious groups had strategized before the meeting and
developed a two-pronged message: oppose a unilateral U.S. invasion, but support
inspections. But what if, the aide asked, the U.N. Security Council passed a
resolution supporting military action against Iraq? Even then, said several of
the antiwar activists, military action would not be justified.
Keeping the Senate -- “the last bastion of
progressivism” among the branches of government -- in Democratic control
is important, said the aide, implying that opposition to a popular president
less than two months before an election could cost the party control of the
upper chamber of Congress.
The peace lobbyists did not accept that argument. “You are
selling the people of the U.S. short,” said Marie Dennis, director of
Maryknoll’s Office of Global Concerns.
The groups plan to keep making their case to Congress over the
next few weeks. Among the planned activities is an Oct. 11 “citizen’s
hearing,” where opponents of war with Iraq will voice their opinions --
hoping, against the odds, that Congress will listen.
National Catholic Reporter, October 11,
2002
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