Declaration Against the Expansion of the Syrian War

In the face of the current tense and disorderly situation with regard to Syria where President Donald Trump has announced that he will make a military retaliation against Syria and where Russia has declared it will defend Syria against such a military act, many people in the world are concerned that a larger war could be developing now. Thus we post the following declaration and ask as many people as possible to sign it as a voice for a just and merciful peace.

We, the undersigned, hereby make public our resistance against President Donald Trump's announcement that he will, within the next hours or days, retaliate militarily against the sovereign state of Syria, with the argument that the Syrian government is guilty of the the use of chemical weapons against civilians in the Ghouta region on 8 April.

Such a military retaliation is unjust because the purported gas attack has not yet even been sufficiently and carefully investigated by a neutral investigatory expert body. 

Since the facts are not yet even clear about who committed such a possible crime, how could we then already punish Syria?

Such a military retaliation would also provoke a military response from Russia which has a military presence in Syria upon request from Syria itself in order to help the country free itself from ISIS and other rebel groups.

Thus, a military intervention on the side of President Trump and his allies might very well provoke a war with Russia which could lead to a widening war involving Europe – to include Turkey – and other regions in the world.

Following Just War Doctrine, we insist upon a fair investigation of the facts before entering a war. 

We remind President Trump of the principle of self-defense, which means that a country may only use military force against another sovereign country when it has been attacked by it. 

We insist upon prudence and truth. 

We refer our readers to an excellent statement written on 10 April by Patrick Buchanan. (For those who do not want to click on the link, I have included the entire text below.)

We ask the world leaders to do everything in their power to stop this cycle of civil and imperial wars.

Some of us remember World War II and the effects on so many innocent civilians.

Let us prevent another, potentially more disastrous world war.

—Dr. Robert Moynihan, Ph.D., Yale University, Founder and Editor, Inside the Vatican magazine (USA)

—Dr. Markus Buening (Germany)
—Marco Tosatti (Italy)
—Father Reto Nay (Switzerland)
—Professor Dr. Thomas Stark (Austria)
—Dr. Peter Chojnowski (USA)
—Brother Andre Marie, M.I.C.M. (USA)
—Deacon Eugene McGuirk (USA)
—Dr. Robert Hickson (USA)
—Dr. Maike Hickson (USA)

—Willy Wimmer, Secretary of State, Ministry of Defense, (ret.) (Germany)
—Professor Paolo Pasqualucci (Italy)
—Pedro Luis Llera, Director of the John Paul II School (Spain)

—Josef Seifert, Professor of Philosophy, President of the John Paul II Academy for Human Life and the Family (JAHLF) (Austria)

—Cyrille Dounot, Professor of Law (France)

—Dr. h.c. Michael Hesemann (Germany)

—Guillaume de Thieulloy, editor of the French blog Le Salon Beige (France)

Here is a link to the Declaration, and at the link it is possible to add a signature (link)