March 21, 2003	Friday	Muharram 17, 1424

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ROME, March 20: The Vatican condemned the US attack on Iraq as a “defeat for reason” just hours after the first missiles fell on Baghdad on Wednesday, as Pope John Paul II devoted his daily mass to peace and the people of Iraq.

The US attack is a “defeat for reason and for the gospel. The war is beyond all legality and all international legitimacy,” said Cardinal Roberto Tucci, a papal confidant who organized John Paul II’s foreign visits for many years.

Speaking on Vatican Radio, Cardinal Tucci said Washington was now seen as an “imperial democracy” and the “self-proclaimed arbiter of all” because of its economic and military power.

“When everything will be known, we will be able to see that this war was decided in advance, ahead of the time when the results of the UN inspectors would be known. That’s grave.”

He warned against the interpretation of the war as a “clash of civilizations” between Islam and the West.

RUSSIAN CHURCH: The head of Russia’s Orthodox Church called on Thursday on the United States and Britain to “stop the bloodshed” in Iraq as he joined other Russian officials in calling for a quick end to the war.

“The Russian Orthodox Church again calls on the governments of the anti-Iraq coalition to stop the bloodshed,” Interfax quoted patriarch Alexy II as saying in a statement.

FRENCH CHRISTIANS: The Christian churches of France issued a strong condemnation of the war in Iraq, calling it a “dramatic failure for humanity.”

“This was not necessary,” said the Council of Christian Churches which brings together the Roman Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox churches.—AFP/APP