IRAQ

Ethicsdaily: WCC Calls for U.N. Control in Iraq, Church Aid for Liberia

RNS) The World Council of Churches on Monday called for the “immediate and orderly” withdrawal of coalition forces from Iraq and the transfer of power to the United Nations.

The WCC’s Central Committee, ending its eight-day meeting in Geneva on Tuesday, also urged churches to provide humanitarian aid to alleviate the “horrific conditions and untold human sufferings” in Liberia.

In a five-page statement on Iraq, the WCC called the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq “immoral, ill-advised and in breach of the principles of the (United Nations) Charter.”

The WCC said it remains concerned about the “long-term political, social, cultural and religious consequences of this war and the continued occupation, especially the negative impact on Christian-Muslim relations.”

The U.S. occupation of Iraq will exacerbate the “intense hatred towards the Western world, strengthening extremist ideologies (and) breeding further global insecurity and increased emigration of Christians from the Middle East,” the WCC said.

The Geneva-based body of 342 Protestant and Orthodox churches called on American and British forces to pay “full reparations” to the Iraqi people for the war’s damages and urged “unimpeded access” for humanitarian groups.