Legislative Hotline: Darfur, Iraq War

These are excerpts from the Legislative Hotline of the Cleveland Diocese:

Actions on Darfur Needed
The U.S. Senate passed a Resolution urging President Bush to secure helicopters for Darfur Peacekeepers (S. Res. 432) This non-binding resolution which unanimously passed the Senate Feb. 7, 2008, urges the members of the international community, including the U.S., that can, provide the helicopters needed for the Darfur peacekeepers to do so as soon as possible. It also urges President Bush to intervene personally by contacting other heads of state and asking them to contribute aircraft and crews for the Darfur mission.
Action: Call or write your Senators and thank them for their support of S.R 432. Ask them to continue to ask President Bush to intervene personally for Darfur.

Mass on 5th Anniversary of War in Iraq
During this time when we observe the fifth anniversary of the beginning of the war in Iraq, we recall the United States Conference of Bishops’ Jan. 2007 Statement on Iraq where they declare, “the current situation in Iraq is unacceptable and unsustainable.” The USCCB calls for the nation to “focus more on the ethics of exit than on the ethics of intervention. The grave moral concerns we and others raised prior to the war now give way to new and different questions. We call for a “responsible transition” that ends the war as soon as possible in a way that minimizes further loss of life and meets the basic moral obligations of the U.S. to the Iraqi people and our own military personnel.”

The USCCB sees the goal of a responsible transition as “neither an open-ended commitment nor a recipe for pre-emptive withdrawal. They call for the country to “ take a new direction to reduce the war’s deadly toll and to bring our people together in an effort to deal with the conflict’s moral and human dimensions. Our nation needs a new bipartisan approach to Iraq policy based on honest and civil dialogue.”
Call to Action: Contact our elected officials and continue to ask for a responsible transition that ends the war as soon as possible in a way that minimizes further loss of life and meets the basic moral obligations of the U.S. to the Iraqi people and our own military personnel.
Attend Peace Mass: Plan to attend a Mass for Peace in Iraq on March 7, 2008 at 12 Noon, at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in downtown Cleveland. The Mass coincides with national efforts to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the war in Iraq.