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In a democracy, debates are sound. The debate between the United States and France regarding the policy in Iraq is a legitimate one, although the policies of these countries must be in keeping with the arguments they use. More profoundly, if the stake of the debate is peace in the future, then the Iraqi issue has to be reconsidered in a broader context, where the French and the Americans will be perceived as credible by the rest of the world, only if they resolutely commit themselves to truthfully favoring justice in the relation between North and South, and by respecting the freedoms of each people . . . Justice, freedom, truth, and love were already recurring themes forty years ago in Pacem in terris, the encyclical of Pope John XXIII.