Brief an den Papst

One of the women that stands tall on my list of heros is the courageous Australian medical doctor, Helen Caldecott, who for the last 25 years has waged an international campaign to educate the public about the medical hazards of the nuclear age.

Nuclear Policy Research Institute (NPRI)

Recently Caldecott founded the NPRI

…along with her informative article entitled,

Medical Consequences of Attacking Iraq

http://www.commondreams.org/views02/1010-04.htm
Dr. Caldecott has just issued a request to for millions of people around the world to email, fax or write Pope John Paul II to ask that he go to Baghdad and stay there until a peaceful resolution is accomplished. Below is her request and suggested letter. I emailed mine today. Please join me.

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An Appeal from Dr. Helen Caldicott to write a letter to the Pope

Dear Friends

I write this appeal for your help as a pediatrician, a mother,
and a grandmother — and I am writing about the lives of tens of thousands
of children. Although the current administration has demonstrated it has
no reservations about slaughtering up to 500,000 innocents in Iraq, there
is one person whose life they absolutely will not risk. That person is
Pope John Paul II.

While the Pope has already formally denounced the proposed war, calling
it a defeat for humanity, as well as sent his top spokesperson to meet
with Saddam Hussein, he now must take a historically unprecedented action
of his own and travel to Baghdad. The Pope’s physical presence in Iraq
will act as the ultimate human shield, during which time leaders of the
word nation can commit themselves to identifying and implementing a
peaceful solution to this war that the world’s majority clearly does not
support.

To persuade the Holy Father to take this unusual but potent action, he
must hear from you and millions of others around the world who have
already been inspired to stand up and speak out for peace. A mountain of
surface mail, email, faxes, and phone calls are our devices to inspire
him. Please understand that your taking just a few minutes right now to
communicate with him may ultimately spare the lives of thousands of
innocent people who at this moment live in complete terror from the threat
of an imminent U.S.-lead military strike on their homeland.

So here is what you can do to be a part of this powerful final action to
stop the march to war in Iraq.

1. Do not forward the letter below [to the Vatican]. Its
power depends upon your sending it directly, as a personal communication
to the Pope.
2. Simply cut and paste the letter below into a new email [you may need to ‚clean up‘ the >>s]. Also cut and
paste the Vatican email address we have provided.
3. At the close of the letter, type in your name, city and state–no need
to include your address.
4. Either email, (accreditamenti@pressva.va) FAX ([from USA]
011-39-06698-85378–from other countries drop the 011 prefix — or send a
hardcopy of this letter to the addresses in the letter below. DO NOT put
„Italy“ anywhere on the envelope, as this will send your mail into the
Italian mail system which is independent of the Vatican system. Should you
wish to phone the Vatican directly, (from USA) dial 011-39-06-69-82–all
other countries must use their appropriate international prefix.
5. Pass this original email on to as many people you can so as to assure a
critical mass is reached in this action.
6. Note that as you and others begin sending your letters, faxes and
emails, there will be a simultaneous effort to alert the media of this
action, so as to be sure it is publicly known throughout the world.
Thank you for participating in this formal request of the Pope. We just
may stop this war in Iraq — and save these childrens‘ lives.

Dr. Helen Caldicott

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Apostolic Palace
00120 Vatican City StateEurope

Your Holiness:

It is out of a sense of great urgency that I am writing this letter. At
this very moment the United States of America is on the verge of launching
what may be the most cataclysmic war in history, using weapons of mass
destruction upon the Iraqi people.

Conservative estimates are that such a war will result in the death of
500,000 Iraqis; fifty percent of their population are less than 15 years
of age. It seems clear that, at this time, you are the only person on
Earth who can stop this war. Indeed, your physical presence in Baghdad,
will prevent the impending slaughter of hundreds of thousands of human
beings, and force the international community to find and implement a
peaceful way to prevent this unprecedented, preemptive aggression.
I implore your Holiness to travel to Baghdad and to remain there until a
peaceful solution to this crisis has been reached. The lives of the people
of Iraq rest in your hands as does the fate of the
world.

With hope,(Your signature)