A State Department diplomatic cable from 2002 details US Ambassador Jim Nicholson’s meeting with then Vatican Middle East Director Tomasso Coppola, and which warns the State Department that “we should expect vocal, public criticism of any military action against Iraq.”
It has long been established that top officials within the George W. Bush administration planned to target Iraq for military attack just days and even hours after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, throwing into question the traditional narrative that the decision was made gradually and as a last resort. Indeed, associated figures in the group of individuals within the administration had planned to target Iraq years prior to 9/11.
But the cable, released by WikiLeaks, provides an insight into just how deep the assumption of targeting Iraq after 9/11 was throughout the administration and diplomatic service. To have diplomats meet with Vatican representatives and note disapprovingly the potential for “public criticism” for waging a war against the non-threatening country is notable.
The cable says “Iraq will remain a bone of contention between the United States and the Vatican,” and warns that “we should expect the Vatican to strongly condemn the continued embargo as ‘harmful’ to the Iraqi population.” The “embargo” referred to is the set of sanctions imposed on Iraq by the US, which is widely considered to have directly contributed to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of children and perhaps over a million people total.
The day the Church starts publicly denouncing any armed aggression let alone the UN (US) sponsored humanitarian wars, is the day people might start forgetting about kiddie-diddlers. But that wouldn't be in America.
The widespread attacks on the church for so called sexual abuses started in 2002. The clergy of all faiths have problems in this regards. So does the teaching profession and other types of professions that deal with children. In 2002 the only person who could have stopped the War was the Pope. He was leading th opposition to it on a moral grounds. He knew it violated all Christian Just War theory. He sent diplomats to Iraq to try to stop the war. He sent diplomats and notes to the Whitehouse and Blair as well. He was an old man but he had great moral authority. That authority had to be destroyed. So the warmongers used the sex scandals which had been adressed for years as the vehicle to do so.
And in the end, the Bush Administration didn't give a rat's patooty what the Vatican thought. Like the Constitution, they too were considered irrelevant.
the pope must be some kind of radical Islamist
Pope John Paul II was my hero, and I say that as a non-catholic. To me leaders are never more glorious than when they stand against the popular out of a sense of what is right. He stands as an example for all the popes through the ages who appeared to be so corrupt. And all of the ugly pseudo-evangelist warmonger religious zealots (and I mean people like John Hagee not the Islamists) who are largely responsible for keeping us in a state of perpetual war. We were lucky to have John Paul with us for so long.
Isn't it interesting how the MSM downplayed the pope's opposition to the Iraq war. Don't tell me they are not controlled by the Zionists.
The administation shouild be charged and jailed.But that is npot going to happen unless America does whats right.Stop the sanctions and futher illegal wars that is a start.Obama and his drones and continueing the illegal wars should also be charged.Maybe America will change for the better the way it was intended but it will take everyone and many should be jailed.
The very idea of having a U.S. ambassador to Vatican "City" is outrageous. As an independent "nation" it has as much legitimacy as the Salt Lake City LDS Temple. Nothing against the Salt Lake City LDS Temple, mind you, but it's not a nation state. Might as well have an "ambassador" to the World Council of Churches, for that matter. To hell with the First Amendment.
Didn't that flurry of sex abuse accusations and massive lawsuits occur after 2002? Ooops I am sounding like a conspiracy nut or something. Wait I am an anonymous message board troll, of course I am a conspiracy theorist.
I am too lazy to go much deeper than wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_sex_abuse_c…