KARACHI, Aug 17: Over hundred women activists of the Karachi Women's Peace Committee and Bazm-i-Aamna on Tuesday staged a protest rally outside the Press Club to condemn the US occupation of Iraq and desecration of holy sites.

The protesters maintained that the New York's twin towers were destroyed by a group without national identity or territorial status. The US government attacked Afghanistan accusing it of playing host to foreign militants, turning Afghanistan into a war zone and a potential threat to world peace, they said.

They said the US invaded Iraq on the basis of inaccurate and doctored information, in defiance of world opinion, unleashing a brute force that toppled Saddam's government.

They pointed out that subsequent revelations clearly showed that Iraq was not involved in 9/11, nor it had WMD's, but Washington used its military might and media sophistry to influence and alter the public opinion which was growing against the invasion.

The protesters were of the view that once it was established that the US intended to control Iraq's revenues, resources and government, it was opposed, and resistance to the occupation erupted in every comer of Iraq.

What transpired thereafter was an ugly, nightmarish scenario, where prisoners were savagely humiliated and tortured and the occupation forces unleashed a reign of terror in Iraq, they said.

They condemned the march of the US troops into the holy cities directing their artillery to shrines, mosques and cemeteries that were sacred to over a billion Muslims.

The latest statements by senior US government officials that the occupation would continue to secure and protect the oil resources of Iraq for the American people, exposed Washington's earlier claims regarding the world peace. The protesters said that the US policy was a threat to peace and democracy as it was based on the principle of 'might is right.'