Fax received today, 12/21/98, from Jean-Jacques Perennes, OP

WAR IN IRAQ

Message from Timothy Radcliffe, OP Master of the Order of Preachers

The Iraqi people are going through suffering and terror again, after eight years of an embargo that is ruining the country and has caused hundreds of thousand of innocent victims. The American and British aggression is unjustified and immoral. It does not help in any way to solve the difficult issues involved, and it only increases the distress of any already suffering people in order to gain immediate political and military interests. It discards the central role of the United Nations and prepares more conflicts for the future.

The Order of Preachers has Iraqi Dominican Friars, Sisters and Laity, who have had to go through these years of sorrow and continue to do so with courage and hope. I want to express the solidarity of the whole Order with them, with the Christians of this country, many of whom I met on my trip to Iraq last February, and with all the Iraqi people, in these days of humiliation for them and of shame for the Western World. We ask a speedy return to negotiated solutions that would respect people's dignity, and an end to this deceptive cruelty. We assure our brethren and sisters of our deepest prayers, in the hope of a real and lasting peace. Abraham, the father in faith of Jews, Christians and Muslims came from this ancient land. May all of his children live in peace.

fr. Timothy Radcliffe, OP
Master of the Order of Preachers
Nagpur, India, 19 December 1998