Mainline Churches oppose troop surge

February 6, 2007 (issue)
Mainline Churches oppose troop surge

Mainline church leaders are expressing opposition to President Bush's plan to escalate U.S.
troop presence in Iraq. Some clergy drew parallels to Martin Luther King's impassioned pleas
decades ago against the ultimately fruitless American war in Vietnam.

"Congress should provide funding only to bring U.S. troops home and to aid in rebuilding Iraq,"
said Winkler, general secretary of the United Methodist Board of Church and Society. The
denomination, like most mainline churches, has opposed the U.S.-led invasion and occupation since
its prelude four years ago when the administration argued that the Iraq regime had weapons of mass
destruction—a claim found to be false.