The two-page policy statement, adopted Monday, makes the AFSC the first U.S. religious group to call for an immediate pullout, agency officials and others say. The prevailing sentiment among other antiwar religious groups is for a phased military withdrawal, they say.
"We are convinced that the presence of U.S. troops is a destabilizing force in the region and contributes to the increasing loss of life," the AFSC board declared.
Its two-page policy statement concludes that American troops "must give way so that U.N. and other agencies, working with the Iraqi interim government, can bring peace and stability. The AFSC believes that the United States has lost the moral standing to achieve the necessary healing, but remains responsible to support financially those institutions and agencies which can do so."
Peter Lems, the AFSC Iraq specialist who drafted the statement, said in an interview that Iraq "is in free-fall," making its future unpredictable: "It's going to be ugly if [U.S. troops] withdraw or if they stay, but in our mind, it'll be much uglier if they stay."
A pullout wouldn't necessarily jeopardize the Iraqi elections set for Jan. 30, Lems said.
"We're not convinced the troops will make the polling places safer," he said. "If they're seen as invested in protecting polling places, it could be a greater reason [for insurgents] to attack them."
The Rev. Bob Edgar, general secretary of the National Council of Churches, said most churches in his umbrella organization "think precipitously leaving would cause harm to Iraqi civilians who have weathered this terrible storm." Instead, he said, they favor a gradual pullout and a summit of nations to form new security and reconstruction forces for Iraq.
"But the leadership of the Quakers is important," Edgar said in an interview. "We need those prophetic voices."
Public discontent over the war is growing, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll released Tuesday. Fifty-six percent of respondents said the conflict was "not worth fighting," an eight-point increase from the summer. At the same time, 58 percent favored keeping troops in Iraq until "civil order is restored."
© 2004 Philadelphia Inquirer and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved. http://www.philly.com
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