Sir, - Currently in Rome at the invitation of the Italian NGO "Bridges to Baghdad" to speak publicly and privately to parliamentarians on the tragic impact of economic sanctions on the people of Iraq, I was delighted by the clear statement from Pope John Paul II last Monday, January 11th. The Holy Father told foreign diplomats that warfare was consistently being shown as unproductive and unable to resolve the problems of the world. He referred specifically to Iraq and to the appalling violence against the people, which he described as immoral and in breach of international law. This built on his earlier statements lamenting that economic sanctions were killing the Iraqi people.
This wonderful statement further draws attention to the plight of the children and people of Iraq and I trust that the extraordinary leadership of the Pope will be reflected in sermons in the churches of Ireland, the UK and the US in the days to come. Members of the Catholic church should be better informed of the killing consequences of sanctions in Iraq and justly proud of the position taken by the Pontiff. I can only hope that his viewpoint and unambiguous message will have some impact on Bill Clinton and Tony Blair, who continue to lead the immoral and illegal punishment of the people of Iraq both through military activity and by sustaining the economic sanctions resulting in the deaths of thousands of Iraqi children every month.
I would now expect the leadership of the Protestant and Jewish communities of Ireland to follow the lead of the Pope and speak out about the appalling violence against the people of Iraq that economic sanctions constitute, and call for their termination.
We must allow Iraq to manage its own resources and continue to look after the well-being of the Iraqi people so badly served by the member states of the Security Council over eight years of the sanctions regime. We must seek international control of arms sales and capacity building in all countries of the Middle East as envisaged in Resolution 687. And we should encourage all the states of the Middle East - Iran, Kuwait, Iraq and Saudi Arabia included, and in particular Israel - to work together in building a regional community of nations for peace and economic and social collaboration in the future.- Yours, etc., Denis J. Halliday,
former UN Assistant Secretary-General and Humanitarian Co-ordinator in Iraq, Rome.