15 January 2003 00:00
METROPOLITAN KIRILL OF SMOLENSK AND KALININGRAD INTERVIEW WITH RIA NOVOSTI NEWS AGENCY ON THE SITUATION AROUND IRAQ, JANUARY 14, 2003
Question: Your Eminence, the situation around Iraq attracts today the attention of an enormous number of people throughout the world. This topic has not left the front pages of newspapers for several months now. What is your view of the problem? What ways of overcoming the prevailing crisis do you consider acceptable?
Answer: The situation around Iraq is a whole knot of world-view, ethnic, political and economic contradictions, brought on by more than one decade. The temptation to cut this knot with one stroke is great, yet that stroke will not lead to a real resolution of the problem.
We share the concern of the world community over the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs). Yet our time has shifted emphases in the field of armed confrontation. We remember very well that the weapon in the hands of the terrorists who attacked the World Trade Center buildings were not nuclear warheads, not chemical and bacteriological ammunition, but the control columns of passenger planes.
I am profoundly convinced: the danger of WMD proliferation can and should be overcome only by peaceful diplomatic means, in accordance with international law and the decisions of the United Nations Security Council. Double standards should also be avoided. Why, for example, certain countries which are not a part of the "nuclear five" but officially or semi-officially possess atomic weapons enjoy the support of the United States, and Iraq, which is only "under suspicion," has been suffering for many years from an economic blockade and sanctions endangering even the lives and health of innocent children?
Question: To what consequences do you think a military operation by the United States and Britain against Iraq may lead?
Answer: Historical experience shows that a war is often very easy to unleash and very difficult to finish. No one can really foresee all the consequences of a war, and this is particularly true of such a complex region as the Middle East.
An armed conflict will inflict incalculable suffering upon the population even in the event of so-called pinpoint strikes. The recent bombings of Yugoslavia by NATO aircraft only confirm the gravity of this threat, for modern weapons that do not belong to the category of weapons of mass destruction yield only insignificantly to WMDs in destructive power.
Military actions will aggravate the already difficult economic position of the people of Iraq, contribute to their further slide into poverty and subject the Iraqis to national humiliation, which always provokes conflicts, animosity and intolerance. A just and peaceful arrangement of life in the Middle East in this case may become a very distant prospect indeed.
The consequences of the war in a shock wave will sweep all over the world and rock the economic systems of dozens of countries. It is common knowledge that these systems are very sensitive to changes of oil prices, which will inevitably follow after the start of combat actions. Already the possibility of a military strike against Iraq is causing in the Arab world a negative reaction, which will intensify in the event of a start of full-scale combat actions and may develop into a mighty flare of violence, which will not be limited to the boundaries of Arab countries. The transparency of borders makes possible the "projection of force" by people driven to despair onto any country, even if it is very powerful economically and militarily.
Question: The possibility of a military operation against Iraq, undoubtedly, affects the feelings of believers of the various denominations. How have religious people in Russia and the world reacted to the threat of the start of a military operation?
Answer: The Orthodox Church calls for the resolution of any conflicts by means of a search of mutually acceptable solutions. It also calls for remembering that a war, even if victorious for the government, inevitably will become a defeat for the families of killed soldiers.
Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, sharing the position of the American and British opponents of a war in Iraq, has declared that it may not only bring disastrous consequences to the Persian Gulf region, but also create a threat to stability and security throughout the world. The leading clerics of the Moscow Patriarchate have subscribed to the demand for a peaceful resolution of the Iraq crisis. In particular, Bishop Mercurius of Zaraisk, Administrator of the Patriarchal Parishes in the United States, has affixed his signature to the appeal of the Orthodox bishops, priests and laypeople of North America not to allow the start of combat actions against Iraq.
The voices of the American Catholics who have declared the unacceptability of preventive strikes against Iraq have been seconded by the statements of the representatives of other Christian denominations. The Vatican, the World Council of Churches, many Protestant denominations, have unequivocally rejected a military scenario of the development of the situation.
The calls for a peaceful resolution of the Iraqi crisis have come from the lips of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Muslim and Jewish communities in the Untied States and Europe have come out against the unleashing of war.
That unanimity of all the representatives of the various denominations is not surprising, for, in the shared conviction of all the people of goodwill, relations between peoples should be directed towards peace, mutual understanding and cooperation. In conclusion I would like to express the hope that the numerous appeals of the religious workers of the entire world will be heeded, and it will be possible to avoid the start of combat actions.
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© Publication of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.
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