[PEN-L:33396] Church leaders attack war plans (UK)

[Chris Burford <cburford@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Rowan Williams, the new Archbishop of Canterbury, has captured the morning
headlines in Britain on the BBC at least by upstaging the  Queen's
Christmas television broadcast,  with a trailer of a mere radio broadcast
to be given at 12:15 in the morning London time on Radio 4 on 26th
December. He has preleased carefully nuanced barbs, enough to excite the
attention of the newsreaders desperate for any news. Comfortable with his
own agenda of distestablishing the Church of England, he is an apparently
establishment figure, who is happy to try to create a different
counter-establishment consensus. He is highly alert to the international
situation, and deft at managing the manouevrings of media politics.

teletext headlines.

"Archbishop attacks leaders on Iraq"
"The new Archbishop of Canterbury is to use his first Christmas message to
criticise politicans for their readiness to go to war. In what is seen as a
warning against a conflict with Iraq, Dr Rowan Williams is to mock
political strategists. Despite their sophistication, they end up killing
innocent people, he will say."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2604829.stm

This has a link to a video trailer quoting him as observing that
"communications are more effective than ever in history.." [and there is no
shortage of analyses] [yet still the innocent suffer]

The Biblical references are to the slaughter of the innocents by Herod.
Quite strong for duel by innuendo.

It will be irrelevant to anyone in the USA except that it will consolidate
the caution of public opinion in the UK against a war on Iraq, and force
Blair to exhibit even more nuanced counter-moves.

I suspect the text of the speech will go up on Rowan Williams's website
tomorrow, or soon after.

http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/sermons_speeches/index.html

Chris Burford

London