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Column
We have no business preparing for a war in Iraq
By KRIS BERGGREN
I am always looking for signs. For
example, I sometimes make this prayer of desperation: Please, God, give me a
sign. I am amazed at just how often that prayer works for me, or at least I am
easily satisfied with anything resembling an answer in times of greatest desire
for clarity. I’m not talking lightning bolts, the stigmata or multiplying
peanut butter sandwiches in my fridge; more like a phone call from someone
offering a job tip, or a chance en-counter that turns my day around.
Right now, however, I am very clear on one thing that seems to
confound many others, especially our nation’s legislators: We have no
business preparing for a war in Iraq. I’m very sure about this, but if I
weren’t I wouldn’t even have to ask for a sign, because in my city
there is a spate of three by four foot lawn signs sprouting up all over that
read simply: “Say no to war with Iraq.” They are signs of resistance
to the mass marketing of the idea that this war is: a) just, b) inevitable, c)
patriotic, or d) all of the above. They’re signs that I am not alone in my
refusal to accept the official rationale for violence. They’re lighting my
Advent journey toward welcoming the Prince of Peace.
The lawn sign campaign is the work of a group of longtime peace
activists, St. Joan of Arc/Women Against Military Madness (WAMM) Peacemakers.
These folks just don’t buy the truism that the majority of people in the
United States favor the impending war. And they’ll sell you a sign if you
want to let your neighbors know where you stand.
St. Joan of Arc/Women Against Military Madness Peacemakers was
founded in 1996 to protest the economic sanctions against Iraq. WAMM is a
25-year old secular organization dedicated to countering the growth of the
military-industrial complex through public protest and education. The
Peacemakers group organizes public protest activities, hosts peace conferences,
sponsors a conscientious objectors’ program for young parishioners, and
raises funds to send representatives to travel with peace delegations to places
like Iraq and Israel. The week before last month’s election, the
Peacemakers co-organized a peace rally that drew 10,500 to the Minnesota
capitol to demonstrate support for a “no” vote on the Bush
administration’s resolution on use of force in Iraq.
Marie Braun, a WAMM steering committee member and St. Joan of Arc
parishioner, traveled to Iraq in 1998 with former attorney general Ramsey
Clark’s 84-person delegation, which delivered $4 million worth of medicine
to Iraqi hospitals. Conditions there remain dire, she said, although they have
improved slightly since her visit. “It was devastating,” she
recalled. “Hospitals are wards of misery.” Physicians were forced to
perform cae-sarean sections on women without anesthesia, and to tell cancer
patients they could not have pain medication because there was none. Mostly,
she carries with her images of dying children whose lives could have been saved
by medicine, proper nutrition or simply clean water. She wants to see an end to
this suffering and to raise awareness of the United States’ complicity in
the misery of the people of Iraq, and to empower citizens to take a stand and
ask for an end to it.
“We were looking for new ways to get the idea across,”
said Braun, “and we thought the signs would help to stimulate conversation
among neighbors.” The group had $1,000 in its bank account and decided to
make as many as they could for that amount; they priced various printers and
ended up with 100 signs. “We hoped we could sell them all,” said
Braun, but she needn’t have worried. By the time the first batch was
ready, 125 orders had been placed at St. Joan’s and they can’t get
them printed fast enough to keep up with demand. About 1,800 signs have sold at
St. Joan’s and other parishes, and through the WAMM office; even the
printing company has received inquiries from those who find its name on the
signs. Orders have come in from St. Cloud, Minn., and even as far as
International Falls, Minn., near the Canadian border. Another 1,000 are on
order. The signs come complete with posts and fasteners, and are sold at cost,
$10 each.
I know the signs get people thinking, because one day my daughter
sat down at the kitchen table as I cooked dinner and in her second grade
cursive and a fat magic marker, made her own sign. She wrote: “Don’t
fight Iraq.” She asked me for tape and stuck it on our front door. When
the following weekend someone at our parish announced that she had signs for
sale, only $10 each, it was like a sign from God: We needed one of these signs,
too. Sometimes it really is that simple.
Kris Berggren writes from Minneapolis. She can be reached by
e-mail at krisberggren@msn.com
National Catholic Reporter, December 20,
2002
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