February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
The mission has been organized by Fr. Brian Jordan, a Franciscan based at the Church of St. Francis of Assisi on West 31st Street in Manhattan, home to Fr. Mychal Judge, the FDNY chaplain killed in the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
Jordan became the chaplain at Ground Zero during the long months of the clean up after the World Trade Center attacks.
Reflecting the ambivalence felt by many toward a likely U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, Jordan said, “This is the first time in American history that we have attacked a nation unprovoked.”
He said that he would be convinced by the preemptive strike argument if Iraq really was a threat, but he believes that the Bush administration had yet to make a convincing case.
There was, he said, clear evidence of the connection between Sept. 11 and Afghanistan, which is why Jordan and his three friends will visit American troops as well as local Afghans in Kabul and Kandahar.
NYPD police inspector Kathy Ryan, retired NYPD sergeant Jerry Karney, and Kevin Minehan, an Irish-born Vietnam veteran who owns a construction company, will accompany him.
“The purpose of the trip is to offset anti-American sentiment in Afghanistan and also anti-Muslim sentiment here when the war in Iraq starts,” Jordan said. “Muslims are not the enemy, the terrorists are. The sins of a few should not be visited on the rest.
“If Bush made the case [on Iraq], I’d hit Saddam Hussein myself.”
Jordan explained that as part of the mission, the group would bring back to the U.S. three Afghan children in need of life-saving medical treatment.
“I’ll also say a few Masses,” Jordan continued, “and attempt to study how Christians, Jews and Muslims might work together more closely.”
The mission will be called Love the Children.
“I want to support our troops over there and tell them we love them and admire them,” Jordan said. “At least love the children who have been victims for centuries thanks to adults’ foolishness.”
Jordan also paid tribute to the Irish who have fought for the U.S. over the centuries.
Jordan tracked down the three needy children thanks to the U.S. State Department, he said, after he called them up and explained his mission.
Two of the children urgently need operations and the third is suffering from the early stages of leukemia.
A fundraiser for the trip was held on Tuesday, Feb. 11, at O’Reilly’s Bar on West 31st Street.