The following message was released to the press on 10th March 2008
The United Reformed Church has called for renewed urgency and vigour to be brought to ending the occupation of Iraq by British and American forces, as the fifth anniversary of the start of the Iraq War approaches. The Church says the consequences of the military action have been devastating for the people of Iraq, and for families with members serving in the coalition forces.
The Church has consistently voiced its opposition to Britain and America entering Iraq (on 19 March 2003), without the proper backing of the United Nations. It now describes that decision as “ill-conceived”.
Simon Loveitt, Convenor of the Church and Society committee said “We opposed it then. We oppose it now. It was a foolhardy and immoral incursion which did not have our backing. Nor did it have the backing of millions of people of this country, who still carry a sense of outrage about it”.
A statement approved by the Church’s Mission Council, meeting on 9 March, drew attention to the fact that more than a million Iraqis have been killed, more than four million have been uprooted from their homes and more than three thousand British and American troops have been killed. Concern was expressed that some returning British servicewomen and men have been vilified, simply for doing their duty.
The statement calls for an understanding that “where conflict and tension abound, lasting peace and stability are more likely to emanate from a dismantling of structures that perpetrate injustice or division, than from violence or aggression”. It says the ending of the occupation needs to be based on the development of sustainable security for the people of the region.