Rowan Williams on US foreign policy

The Most Reverend Dr Rowan Williams

Frank Ford sent me a Telegraph article entitled "Archbishop's assault on US foreign policy". As many of you know, Rowan Williams is a personal friend of mine. He presided at my Solemn Profession (life vows) back in 1994 when he was Bishop of Monmouth. I love him dearly. I have disagreed with a lot of his actions since he became Archbishop of Canterbury, however. But with the following, I agree completely:

[The Archbishop] claimed the US had lost the moral high ground since the September 11 attacks, and urged it to launch a "generous and intelligent programme of aid directed to the societies that have been ravaged; a check on the economic exploitation of defeated territories; a demilitarisation of their presence"
....
"It is one thing to take over a territory and then pour energy and resources in to administering it and normalising it. Rightly or wrongly, that's what the British Empire did in India, for example.

"It is another thing to go in on the assumption that a quick burst of violent action will somehow clear the decks and that you can move on and other people will put it back together - Iraq, for example."

He described violence as "a quick discharge of frustration", adding: " It serves you. It does not serve the situation. Whenever people turn to violence what they do is temporarily release themselves from some sort of problem but they help no one else.

"A lot of pressure around the invasion of Iraq was 'we've got to do something, then we'll feel better'. That's very dangerous."

Remember, when he heard that the attacks on Iraq had started, Bush pumped his fist into the air and said, "Feels good. Feels good." And, yes, that is very dangerous indeed.