Tonight I attended the “Call for Peace Vigil” in Tottenham. Local community leaders spoke well of the responsibility we all have to promote peaceful solutions to the problems of society.
The MP for Tottenham David Lammy was then given the platform and he echoed the call for non-violence in the aftermath of the Tottenham riots. As he was speaking all I could think of was this mans complicity in the war in Iraq. He voted very strongly for the war and very strongly against an inquiry into the same war.
After the vigil I approached Mr Lammy and told him that I agreed with his call for peace. I then asked him to reflect on his previous decision to support the war in Iraq, which resulted in the deaths of thousands of people and the destruction of vital infrastructure. I also asked him whether he agreed that violence always breeds more violence and that in supporting war in Iraq he was sending out a message that violent action was acceptable.
for a moment Mr Lammy looked racked with guilt as the depth of his hypocrisy sank in. Then after an awkward silence he responded with relief “as a christian I agree with your message“. But not it seems as an MP.
Ben Griffin, Veterans For Peace UK
Veterans For Peace UK 
Interview with Cardinal Ratzinger now His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI…Zenit.org May 2, 2003:
Q: Eminence, a topical question that in a certain sense is inherent to the Catechism: Does the Anglo-American war against Iraq fit the canons of a “just war”?
Cardinal Ratzinger: The Pope expressed his thought with great clarity, not only as his individual thought but as the thought of a man who is knowledgeable in the highest functions of the Catholic Church. Of course, he did not impose this position as doctrine of the Church but as the appeal of a conscience enlightened by faith.
The Holy Father’s judgment is also convincing from the rational point of view: There were not sufficient reasons to unleash a war against Iraq. To say nothing of the fact that, given the new weapons that make possible destructions that go beyond the combatant groups, today we should be asking ourselves if it is still licit to admit the very existence of a “just war.”
As a Christian Mr Lammy would be well to ponder the following scripture…
Isaiah 2 (English Revised Version)
1 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
2 And it shall come to pass in the latter days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.
3 And many peoples shall go and say, come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
4 And he shall judge between the nations, and shall reprove many peoples: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.