Each day we hear and learn more about the crisis unfolding in Iraq as a result of the America occupation. Life has not improved for the Iraqi people. In fact, it is measurably worse in many ways. The Roman Catholic organization Pax Christi USA has made resources available on their web site for those Christians concerned about the on-going crisis in Iraq. The resources include this moving Litany of Repentance. I commend it to you and your congregations for use in worship:
Let us acknowledge the history of our nation’s relationship with Iraq and pray for forgiveness. Our response is: Jesus, forgive us.
For the times we have failed to choose life over death...Jesus, forgive us.
For the times we have chosen ignorance over knowledge...Jesus, forgive us.
For the times we have not stood up to evil...Jesus, forgive us.
For our nation’s support of the regime of Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war...Jesus, forgive us.
For the chemical and conventional weapons our nation sold to Iraq in the 1980s...Jesus, forgive us.
For our nation’s willingness to partner with brutal dictatorships when it serves its own political agenda...Jesus, forgive us.
For the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who died during the First Gulf War...Jesus, forgive us.
For the environmental damage to air and water, the babies born with deformities, and soldiers and civilians suffering from strange illnesses due to our use of depleted uranium munitions in the First Gulf War...Jesus, forgive us.
For the bombing of Iraq’s civilian infrastructure during the First Gulf War...Jesus, forgive us.
For twelve years of crippling economic sanctions which left hundreds of thousands of innocent children dead because they had no medicines or food...Jesus, forgive us.
For our own addiction to oil and the policies which fuel the addiction...Jesus, forgive us.
For the seeds of grief and anger we planted in generations of young people who saw their brothers and sisters die because of the sanctions...Jesus, forgive us.
For the lies which our government perpetrated to make its case for war against Iraq, especially the suggestions that Iraq was responsible for 9-11...Jesus, forgive us.
For the ongoing rape of Iraq’s natural resources to serve the corporate greed of U.S. and transnational corporations...Jesus, forgive us.
For our government’s sanction and use of torture...Jesus, forgive us.
For military assaults against mosques...Jesus, forgive us.
For the racism that is inherent in our policies toward Iraq and throughout the Middle East...Jesus, forgive us.
For our nation’s military occupation of Iraq and manipulation of its internal politics...Jesus, forgive us.
For the mounting deaths of U.S. soldiers and Iraqi civilians...Jesus, forgive us.
For the times we have not stood up to evil...Jesus, forgive us.
For the times we have chosen ignorance over knowledge...Jesus, forgive us.
For the times we have failed to choose life over death...Jesus, forgive us.
