British clerics denounce plan to strike Iraq
July 15 2002

British religious leaders, including the priest widely expected to become the next Archbishop of Canterbury, have described United States and British plans to invade Iraq and overthrow President Saddam Hussein as immoral and illegal.

The Archbishop of Wales, Rowan Williams, joined several leading clerics in signing a declaration printed in the influential Catholic weekly The Tablet.

They wrote: "It's deplorable that the world's most powerful nations continue to regard war, and the threat of war, as an acceptable instrument of foreign policy.

"It is our considered view that an attack on Iraq would be both immoral and illegal and that eradicating the dangers posed by malevolent dictators and terrorists can be achieved only by tackling the root causes of the disputes."


Dr Williams has emerged as the preferred candidate to succeed Dr George Carey as Archbishop of Canterbury, the spiritual leader of Anglicans worldwide, later this year. The Prime Minister, Tony Blair, is known to favour Dr Williams, despite his recent description of the war in Afghanistan as "morally tainted".

Other signatories include the Anglican Bishop of Chelmsford, the Right Rev John Perry, and the Catholic Bishop of Brentford, the Most Rev Thomas McMahon.

Peter Fray
Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald
www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/07/14/1026185141229.html