Pax Christi response to US aggression against Syria, Afghanistan, North Korea

Pax Christi Metro New York has issued the following statement in response to the recent US aggression against Syria, Afghanistan and North Korea.

On April 6th 2017, the new US Administration issued missile strikes on an airbase in Syria supposedly in response to a chemical attack by Syria on its own "beautiful children."

We at Pax Christi New York deplore both the use of chemical weapons, regardless the perpetrator, and the use of retaliatory missiles, regardless the rationale.

First it was never determined what chemicals were used or how they were released. One claim is that the Syrian military did cause the release of the chemicals, but only because it hit a chemical warehouse. This could be a cover-up or it could be true. There has been no confirmation and the US attack disrupted the investigation to find out.

Second, launching missile attacks does nothing to protect Syria's "beautiful children." In fact they are beautiful. But if our government really cared, we would be opening our doors wide to welcome them here, not banning them. What missile strikes do accomplish is an acceleration of the hostilities within Syria and among all the many players in their civil war and the international surrogate war that this conflict is. We know this to be true because right after the US strike, the Syrian military bombared the same area with more attacks.

Phyllis Bennis, Middle East expert wrote in Common Dreams on the day of the assault: "We know that using chemical weapons of any sort, in any war against any target, is a crime. And we know that there must ultimately be accountability for those who use it, regardeless of who they are. That will take time."

"In the meantime we know another truth: that a US military escalation against Syria will not help the victims of the heinois chemical attack. It will not bring the devastating war in Stria to a quicker end., it will not bring back gthe dead children. It will not defear ISIS or end terrorism. It will create more terrorists. It will almost certainly cause more casuaties, more injuries and more dead. Maybe dead children. There is no militgary solution. That is what we know.

Instead of responding to violence with more violence, we at PCMNY affirm the statement from Pax Christi International which urges the international community to work together "to implement strategic non violent actions to US aggression against Syria, Afghanistan, North Korea

Since writing this statement, the US has dropped the largest non-nuclear bomb it has on Afghanistan, and talks are heating up for yet another attack, perhaps with nuclear weapons, on North Korea. PCMNY emphatically and unconditionally opposes this escalation of belligerent acts by the US which desecrate the sanctity of life, all life, and which threaten the security of all nations, including our own.
The way to peace is through active nonviolence. If we are to survive and thrive we can do no less.

"For all our differences and disagreements, we can live in a world of peace. In opposing every attempt to create a rigid uniformity, we can and must build unity on the basis of our diversity of languages, cultures and religions, and lift our voices against everything which would stand in the way of such unity." Pope Francis

For more information see: www.nypaxchristi.org