Tutu attacks ‘immoral’ Iraq war

Former archbishop of Cape Town and Nobel peace prize winner Desmond Tutu says the “immoral” war in Iraq has left the world a much more unsafe place.

Desmond Tutu urged US President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair to admit they had made a mistake.

The archbishop also demanded to know whether it had been right to attack Iraq in defiance of international law.

Archbishop Tutu’s severest criticism of the war yet came in a lecture to the Prison Reform Trust in London.

Most critical

Desmond Tutu has made several critical comments about the Iraq war and its aftermath since beginning a short stint as a visiting professor at London University.

In this lecture he was at his most outspoken.

He said belligerent and militarist policies had produced a novel and dangerous principle – that of pre-emptive attack on the basis of intelligence reports.

In the case of Iraq, Archbishop Tutu said, the intelligence had been flawed – yet it was the basis for the United States going to war dragging Britain behind it.

He also criticised the alternative justification of ousting a tyrannical regime.

He demanded to know by what authority President Bush and the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, had acted; was it might is right, and to hell with international law?

Desmond Tutu brought this onslaught into a lecture arguing that retribution was a poor basis for a penal system and arguing for the kind of restorative justice seen in South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which he chaired.

Archbishop Tutu referred to the idea that harsh prison sentences made people safer.

In the invasion of Iraq, he said, they could see the same illusion on a global scale – that force and brutality could produce security.

Read Another Article

New e-mail service to…God
‘Child Bigamy’ Bill Advances In Senate

Related News Articles Topic(s): Warmongering Subscribe to Religion News Blog updates Subscribe to Religion News Blog [What is this?] Get Religion News Blog's headline by Email [What is this?] Follow Religion News Blog at Twitter Find Related Information Use our custom search engines to find additional research resources on religions and cults: ApologeticsSearch.com: Search for apologetics articles, books, videos, and other research resources across 135 Christian apologetics websites and blogs. CounterCultSearch.com: Search for information about (religious) cults, cult-like organizations, and cults experts -- as well as paranormal-, New Age, and pseudoscientific claims -- across 260+ websites, blogs and forums dedicated to cult research, spiritual abuse, ex-cult counseling & support. Find Related Religion & Spirituality Books at Amazon.com Warmongering Possibly related... or Most Popular Religion News Articles Kent Hovind: Evangelist arrested on federal charges Beast’s real mark devalued to ’616′ Muslim Woman Gives Sex Advice on Arab TV Michael Jackson Confirms Conversion to Islam Kent Hovind, ‘Dr. Dino,’ guilty on all counts The fall and rise of Carlton Pearson Search False prophet Harold Camping sets another date for rapture: May 21, 2011 Watch the film Theo van Gogh was murdered for Kent Hovind — Dr. Dino — sentenced to 10 years in prison

Search Religion News Blog