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Letter from Stan Dotson
March 6, 2003
Not long ago Hilltop published a letter from Dean of LifeWorks Stan Dotson and his wife Kim Christman describing their intent to go to Iraq in a gesture of peace. Not long before the diplomatic window for peace closed and war became virtually inevitable, they circulated this followup letter.
Friends and Colleagues:
The deadline for Kim and me to give the final go-ahead to the Christian Peacemaker Team delegation was Tuesday, March 4. Needless to say, we spent some intense hours Monday night talking and praying and shedding many tears as we considered all the “what-ifs” of this venture. We were acutely aware of the worst-case scenarios, and searched deeply to see if the witness against this war was worth it. We finally came to the decision to call on Tuesday and give CPT the go-ahead and have them start processing our visas. When I called to tell Claire Evans, the CPT coordinator this, she thanked me and then informed me that their board had processed all the applications and made their decisions on this delegation and that Kim and I were not going to be asked to join this group. She had already indicated earlier that this might happen, and the reason why. The permanent delegation there in Baghdad had requested that this particular delegation be made up of people who have had significant experience in these kinds of hostile situations. Ideally, they wanted people who had skills such as medic skills in war zones, because they feel the inevitability of Bush’s war and they feel it is likely to happen while this delegation is there. So we are not going, at least not this time.
We have lots of mixed feelings, and we are well aware of how much our family is relieved by this news, but what we feel most is disappointment. I was reminded of a scene in the Andy Griffith show when Gomer Pyle decided to enlist in the Marines. Andy, knowing Gomer and knowing the Marines, tried to prepare Gomer for disappointment. He gently asked Gomer what he would think if they asked him to come back another time, that they didn’t need him right now. Gomer replied that he would be heartbroken, because his daddy had taught him to serve and do his duty and if they didn’t let him do that he wouldn’t know what to do.
It’s a pretty silly analogy, but we do feel heartbroken, not so much that we aren’t qualified to go, but most of all at the seeming inevitability of the impending war. And we do feel like it is our service—our duty—to do all in our power to stop the government from making such a catastrophic move. We are on the CPT mailing list, so we are getting emails daily from the people there, and they are sending pictures of the people there, and letters of Iraqi youth to school children here. Their letters all talk about what these children and youth hope to be when they grow up, and they are begging the children here to do whatever they can to stop this war, because if the war comes, with the shock and awe strategy that has been described, it is likely that many of these children and youth will not live.
This does not have to be. Saddam’s neighbors, including our ally Turkey, the only democracy in the area, don’t support this war; they don’t feel like his threat to them warrants war. Our European allies believe we can contain Saddam’s threat without war. War will not be a last resort, for we have not resorted to tripling the inspectors and putting in a U.N. military peacekeeping force to protect the inspectors and ensure human rights for the Iraqi people.
I hope you will join us in doing our duty here—making our voices known to decision makers in whatever ways we can—to say that we can contain Saddam’s threat and ultimately disarm him—through a sustained effort by a world coalition, including the Arab nations of the region. What we cannot contain is the terrorism and long-term instability this war will unleash in response to our overkill.
Thanks to all who have prayed for us during this time of discernment, and thanks to all who gave us words of concern and support and raised good questions for us to consider. You are good people.
P.S. In the midst of all this we just learned that one of our best friends, Linda Baldridge, wife of Bill Baldridge, whom I consider as my spiritual mentor, went into the hospital over the weekend with some sever pain; the doctors found cancer that had spread so bad that they are only giving her 1 to 2 weeks to live. So instead of going to Iraq, kim and I will be traveling to Kansas City to spend time with them. Please remember them in your prayers.
Stan Dotson
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