Confronting Iraq: Might doesn't make Right by Desmond Tutu & Ian Urbina International Herald Tribune 3:50pm 15th Mar, 2003   Published March 14th, 2003    People of faith belong on the side of peace. But it is more than just those of all religions who stand against an attack on Iraq. It is also those who put their trust in law.    The current moment confronts the world with a terrible decision: will we stand by reason and law or act in force and aggression? There has never been a more important test of the values of average people around the globe. At stake is whether might makes right.    The United States is indeed a mighty country. But its real strength resides in its proud history of standing for what is just. In figures such as Martin Luther King, the world draws moral fortitude and an example of the effectiveness of non-violent struggle. With the grassroots boycotting efforts of everyday Americans, and the eventual diplomatic pressure of their government, South African apartheid was ended. The prison doors would still be shut around Nelson Mandela were it not for the help of the United States.    These traditions have spoken recently on the streets. Never has there been such a popular and peaceful outpouring of opposition, even before the act war has taken place. This is truly the moral meaning of preemption.    There is no dishonor in the willingness to slow things down for the inspections to run their course. Few doubt that the United States has established a credible threat of force. Now the United Nations must be permitted to do its job. Disarmament is an absolute necessity. Nothing will undermine it more than a brazen disregard for the one institution which can actually achieve it.    It is not a vote against the war which threatens the United Nations with irrelevance. It is the unilateral cajoling by the sole remaining superpower which risks corrupting this otherwise democratic and international institution.    It is the inconsistent application of its resolutions, whereby some violators operate above the law, while others lack due process. It is the threat that money will dictate votes where only law and evidence should hold sway.    The question is not whether the United States has the ability to change the current heinous regime in Baghdad. It does. The question is whether it is worth the cost not just in terms of the fate of diplomacy and law, but also in terms of the thousands of innocent victims which will result now and down the road in the repercussions to come.    President George W. Bush is a man of faith. We can only hope that he believes in law as well.    Archbishop Desmond Tutu won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984. Ian Urbina is associate editor at the Middle East Research and Information Project.    Copyright © 2003 the International Herald Tribune    March 21, 2003 Antiwar Thinking: Acknowledge Despair, Highlight Progress on Moral Preemption by Desmond Tutu and Ian Urbina. Published by the Christian Science Monitor    It is difficult not to feel despair and powerlessness at this awful juncture. Millions in the world fought with all their hearts and minds to avoid violencein Iraq. Inevitably, when bombs fall, there is a deep and emotional void that is opened.    Many will pray. Others will simply reflect. Countless numbers will continue to take to the streets. But all will worry over the extent of destruction to come and the scope of its repercussions.    We have seen dark moments before. Slavery, the holocaust, the Vietnam War - man's inhumanity to man is not to be underestimated.    In the fight against apartheid, we saw times that seemed the world had come to an end. The nation wept in 1993 with the assassination of Chris Hani, the widely popular leader who many thought would succeed Nelson Mandela as head of the African National Congress (ANC). Violence clenched South Africa. The constitutional negotiations between the ANC and the whites-only National Party were broken nearly beyond repair.    This was the lowest point of our struggle. But faith prevailed, as did the moral fortitude of average people to do what is right. With it, apartheid ended.    In today's moment of deep anguish over the war, it is important to recognize the reasons for hope and pride, both in the United States and across the globe.    Never in history has there been such an outpouring of resistance from average people all around the world before a war had even begun. Millions took a stand. This doctrine of moral and popular preemption must be sustained.    Countless nations, many of them quite impoverished, listened to the majority voices of their own citizens opposing the war. These governments opted not to take the huge sums offered to support the military effort, but instead chose to heed the sentiments of their citizens. In these contexts, this was a considerable step forward for democracy.    A first step to personal healing is to acknowledge the depth of the devastation that many of us feel. We should not pretend it does not exist.    But, we must also look forward. The energies mobilized recently must not dissipate. They should be channeled and broadened.    This is the beginning, not the end, of heightened vigilance. With war, domestic civil liberties face their greatest threat. We must not squelch the right to protest under the pressures of patriotism.    World attention has in the past months fixated on the desire for a diplomatic and United Nations solution. If we want lasting peace and security in the Middle East, if we want international law to hold any meaning, we must begin to require that UN resolutions are applied uniformly across all countries. We must begin to focus our energies in that direction.    In Iraq, we must watch to see that the promises for a truly functioning democracy are honored, that the long-term and expensive commitment for rebuilding is provided.    Archbishop Desmond Tutu won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984. Ian Urbina is associate editor at the Middle East Research and Information Project. Visit the related web page
	Next (more recent) news item
	Next (older) news item