Catholic Church to Bush, "Just a reminder, Your Iraq war is unjust." Love, the late JPII -- The Public Pulse. Wednesday January 4, Omaha World Herald

On American values

American values:

• Starting a pre-emptive war with only an assumption that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction is just fine.

• Acting like coalition-building is beneath us.

  
  

• Eroding individual rights with the USA Patriot Act and by spying on Americans suspected of terrorist ties.

  
  

• Naively thinking that killing insurgents and making martyrs in Iraq means we are safer at home.

  
  

• Providing no incentives for Iraqi soldiers to stand up so that America can step down.

• Exercising poor judgment, which has brought us to this juncture in the war.

Subsequent to Pope John Paul II's opposition to the war, the Catholic Church failed to stand behind her own teaching that the war was unjust.

Had more American Catholics voiced their opposition to the war, President Bush might have allowed the U.N. inspectors to complete their search for weapons of mass destruction, expose Saddam as a delusional tinhorn dictator and have the Shiites and Kurds depose him on their own.

Could it be that the church is so single-issue-oriented against abortion that she took a pass on the war, which is also a pro-life issue?

Hubris, revenge and political advantage have trumped the teachings of the Prince of Peace.

The Rev. Ken Vavrina, Omaha