NEWS STORY: Religious reaction mixed to U.S. strikes against terrorism

c. 1998 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ Religious reaction to the twinned U.S. air strikes Thursday (Aug. 20) against suspected terrorist bases in Sudan and Afghanistan ranged from commendation by some Jewish and conservative Christian groups to condemnation by peace organizations, with American Muslims questioning the legitimacy and timing of the attacks. Both the American […]

c. 1998 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON _ Religious reaction to the twinned U.S. air strikes Thursday (Aug. 20) against suspected terrorist bases in Sudan and Afghanistan ranged from commendation by some Jewish and conservative Christian groups to condemnation by peace organizations, with American Muslims questioning the legitimacy and timing of the attacks.

Both the American Muslim Council and the Council on American-Islamic Relations said the missile attacks may have more to do with the sex scandal swirling around the White House than anything else.”The timing of today’s attacks has led to speculation that the motivation for action had more to do with domestic politics than the legitimate struggle against terrorism,”the groups said in a joint statement.


In defending President Clinton’s decision to order the air strikes, however, one Jewish group called such thinking”rubbish.””It is to be hoped that no one will indulge in the cheap and easy claim that the action … was designed as a diversion from the president’s domestic troubles,”said the American Jewish Congress.”This is rubbish.” Gary Bauer, head of the conservative Family Research Council and a staunch Clinton critic,”commended the swift, bold and direct”military action.”The American people must be protected against terrorists’ pervasive assaults on innocent human life,”said Bauer, adding that the president and Congress should step up intelligence efforts to defend against retaliatory missile, chemical and biological attacks.

The Muslim Public Affairs Council also warned U.S. action against the Muslim extremists led by Osama bin Laden, the Saudi millionaire accused of orchestrating the recent embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, could lead to a worldwide increase in terrorism and a rise in anti-Muslim feelings among Americans.”We regret that this step will result in the rise of anti-American sentiment throughout the world, of the American public’s lack of confidence in the Clinton administration, and of the danger of divisiveness in our society,”the group said.

A wide range of U.S. Jewish groups sensitive to the volatile Middle East situation, in which Israel has become a frequent target of terrorist attacks, lauded the U.S. action in Sudan and Afghanistan.”It is crucial that the United States, the world’s only remaining superpower, fight terror, proactively prevent violence … and apprehend, prosecute and punish terrorists,”said the Orthodox Union, an umbrella group for some 1,000 mainstream Orthodox synagogues.”The enemies of America and of democracy must be convinced that Americans remain ever-vigilant in our resolve to wage war against them,”said the American Jewish Committee, the civil and human rights group.

But religious peace groups were just as unified in their opposition to Thursday’s strikes. They urged the U.S. government to refrain from further military action against suspected terrorists.”While we condemn terrorism without reservation, we also exclude military force as an acceptable way to deal with the problem,”said Pax Christi, USA, an independent Roman Catholic group that counts some 70 bishops as members.

Echoed the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker social justice and peace group,”… We challenge the concept that a series of violent actions will in any way reduce the ability of terrorist organizations to operate in the world arena.” Offering a more tempered reaction was the National Council of Churches, representing 34 mainline Protestant, Orthodox and historic black churches.

While acknowledging that”we live in a dangerous world where violence is a constant threat … there may be moments when military action is legitimate,”the NCC said. However,”we do have reservations about the effectiveness of relying on military strikes to counter terrorism.” (OPTIONAL TRIM _ STORY MAY END HERE.)

In Afghanistan, where U.S. cruise missiles hit suspected terrorist training camps near the Pakistani border, American relief workers have been advised to evacuate the area.


Mercy Corps International, a faith-based nondenominational relief and development organization that has worked in Afghanistan since 1989, said no Americans with their group were in the country at the time of the attacks.

And the group’s lone American based in Pakistan at the southeast border of Afghanistan”is in the process of leaving upon strong advice of the U.S. embassy,”said Nancy Lindborg, a Mercy Corps spokeswoman.”We have been advised to pull out.” Some aid workers speculated famine relief efforts in southern Sudan also could be adversely affected by Thursday’s strike against a suspected chemical weapons plant in Khartoum, Sudan’s capital in the north and the seat of power for Islamic extremists who have been waging a bloody 15-year civil war against the mostly Christian south.

World Vision, the evangelical Christian relief group, has worked in Sudan since the mid-1980s and participates in Operation Lifeline Sudan, a U.N. initiative of 40 religious and secular aid groups working to ease the horrific famine now gripping the south.”If the government of Sudan in response to the U.S. attacks says we are going to shut down Operation Lifeline Sudan, you would see a very quick reduction in the amount of material going into southern Sudan,”said Tom Callahan, an Africa expert with World Vision.

Callahan said he doesn’t anticipate the Khartoum government will halt Operation Lifeline Sudan to retaliate against the U.S. action, but if it did,”I’d be very surprised if we did not find another way of operating in Sudan outside the (United Nations) umbrella.”

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