WELLINGTON, New Zealand (CNS): A New Zealand cardinal said a US-led attack on Iraq has no justification “on grounds of international law or sane morality”.
Cardinal Thomas Williams of Wellington said while UN inspectors have failed to find proof of Iraq’s development of weapons of mass destruction US President George W. Bush still appears intent on invading the Middle East nation.
“Why in heaven’s name is the Bush administration so hell-bent on attacking Iraq?” Cardinal Williams asked in a February 4 statement.
In a separate statement, the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference appealed to Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair “to refrain from an armed offensive against the Iraqi people”.
“To wage war at this stage is immoral and illegal, and therefore must be excluded,” the bishops said in a January 31 statement from their plenary meeting in Pretoria.
Cardinal Williams said the planned attack of Iraq would violate the 1945 UN Charter, which prohibits a member nation from declaring a pre-emptive war.
He also said that the conflict with Iraq did not meet the moral criteria for a just war.
