"IRAQ--WINNING
THE PEACE RATHER THAN WINNING THE WAR"
Prince
El Hassan Bin Talal
February 2003
Terrorism, violence, the proliferation of weapons, human rights abuses,
and preventable or avoidable conflicts are not only threats to our
common security they are an affront to our common humanity, a denial
of the inherent dignity that we all share – equally - as creatures
of God living under one sun on a fragile earth upon which we all depend.
The Iraqi people today undeniably live under a cloud of fear, insecurity,
intimidation and deprivation. It is a state of affairs that is wholly
unavoidable and thus can aptly be described as an injustice imposed
on the people.
It is the responsibility of the international community to address
global threats to our common security, consistent with established
moral norms and legal standards. Moreover, it is our special responsibility
as members of religious and spiritual communities to reject the misuse
of religion in promoting extremism and violence and to work together
for peace, prosperity, and justice.
We cannot talk of security without talking of the root causes –
poverty, alienation, a widening gap between the haves and have-nots,
rampant unilateralism on one side and preponderant despair and desperation
on the other.
In this context, the international community must exercise its common
responsibility to ensure Iraqi compliance with relevant United Nations
Security Council resolutions. But the exercise of this responsibility
– and compliance thereto - must be moral as well as legal. And
neither religion nor faith should ever be used to justify what is
clearly illegal or immoral. Moreover, the issue of proportionality
cannot be used to justify arguments in favour of the moral equivalence
of actions that are clearly unjustifiable.
At a time of great uncertainty, the arrogance of power must not lead
us to abandon wisdom. Wisdom is to listen to the voice of the people.
Wisdom is to humanise rather than demonise the “other”.
Wisdom is not to delink the myth from reality; to constantly have
hope and to consider the alternative options.
Avenues still remain for a peaceful resolution of this crisis. There
are options for the Security Council. There are options for the allies.
And there are options for the Iraqi leadership. Not to recognize these
options or exercise them for the common good is to deny that wisdom
which God has granted us. [Beyond immediate death and destruction,
military action against Iraq has the potential to create a long-term
humanitarian disaster, to further destabilize the region, and to fuel
dangerous extremist tendencies. To maintain its moral credibility,
all parties must be exhaustive in their search for peaceful means
to resolve the conflict.]
It is not just about common security or common good or even common
humanity – it is about our common conscience to do what is right.
Nelson Mandela rightly reminds us that “We have not had world
wars in 57 years .. because of the United Nations”. And thus,
today, as we stand at the brink of our mutually assured destructiveness,
I reiterate that we cannot allow the United Nations and the will of
common humanity to be undermined by hypocrisy, double standards, indignity
and hate.
We have to ask what legacy we are passing onto future generations.
The issue now is about winning the peace rather than winning the war,
for the latter scenario is the supreme irony – the reality that
in war there are no winners, only losers.
His Royal Highness Prince El Hassan bin Talal
President of the Arab Thought Forum
Moderator of the World Conference for Religions and Peace
President of the Club of Rome
|
