LONDON, Sept 19: The Church of England offered on Monday to take the lead in reconciling with Muslims by apologizing to their leaders for the US-led war in Iraq if the British government fails to do so.

The proposal was contained in a report, entitled ‘Countering Terrorism: Power, Violence and Democracy Post-9/11’, which was written by a working group of the Church of England’s House of Bishops.

“We do believe that the church has a visionary role for reconciliation, beyond that of any government,” the Bishop of Oxford, Right Reverend Richard Harris, told BBC radio.

“The Christian church in particular has a mandate to work for reconciliation,” he said.

The report suggests that a ‘truth and reconciliation’ meeting between Christian and Muslim leaders would be an opportunity to apologize for the way the West has contributed to the tragedy in Iraq, including the March 2003 invasion led by the United States and Britain.

The Church of England, which lies at the heart of the worldwide Anglican communion, has been openly critical of the war in Iraq, claiming the invasion failed to meet the criteria of a ‘just war’.

The meeting is offered as a solution to the moral dilemma that members of the church who opposed the war find themselves in.

The bishops say to pull out of Iraq without a stable democracy being in place would be irresponsible and compound the misery of the Iraqi people. But to stay suggests collusion with a ‘gravely mistaken’ war.

If collusion is a necessary evil, the report says, there needs to be a degree of public recognition of the West’s responsibility for the predicament.

The report highlights a ‘long litany of errors’ in the West’s handling of Iraq which includes its support of Saddam Hussein over many years as a strategic ally against Iran, its willingness to sell him weapons and the suffering caused to the Iraqi people by sanctions.

It goes on to say that the recent invasion appeared to be ‘as much for reasons of American national interest as it was for the well-being of the Iraqi people’.

As Prime Minister Tony Blair’s government is unlikely to offer an apology, a meeting of religious leaders would provide a ‘public act of institutional repentance’, it said.—AFP