BANGKOK, Nov 6: US civil rights leader Reverend Jesse Jackson on Thursday slammed his government’s invasion of Iraq as having “no moral foundation” and warned of looming global crises and a cycle of violence brought on by US arrogance.

In a blunt condemnation of the invasion, the black rights leader and former candidate for president said there is “no future, no growth, no prosperity” in the violence killing US soldiers and Iraqi civilians, and stressed the war merely invites “blowback” on the American people.

“When the United States, the world’s superpower, searches for victory or retaliation rather than reconciliation, it ignores the consequences and global repercussions,” Jesse Jackson said in a speech to about 500 students and others at Bangkok’s distinguished Thammasat University.

“The world believed that this war was about oil, not terrorism; about payback, not regime change; about destroying Saddam Hussein rather than destroying the weapons of mass destruction; about empire, not democracy,” he said.

“And leading figures in all religions have made it crystal clear that there was no moral foundation for a war for these reasons.

“In the arrogance to rush to war, the hawks underestimated the perils, the price, and the pain. To rush to war without fully counting the moral and physical and fiscal risks was arrogant, and arrogance precedes the fall.”

“I made this point before the war ever started; I make it again now, when new crises loom while old ones linger unresolved.”

The 60-year-old Jackson, who has made a name for himself in civil liberties campaigns and international peace mediation missions, was visiting Thailand as part of an international rights and peace campaign.

“The truth is that, even for a superpower, while the war may be short, the cycle of violence will go on. An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth leaves everyone blind and eating mush.” —AFP