WASHINGTON, March 9: Former US president Jimmy Carter criticized the US march toward war on Sunday, saying in an opinion piece in the New York Times that an attack on Iraq would fall short of the ethical standard for “just war.”

“As a Christian and as a president who was severely provoked by international crises, I became thoroughly familiar with the principles of a just war, and it is clear that a substantially unilateral attack on Iraq does not meet these standards,” Mr Carter wrote in comments published in the daily.

US policy for years has “been predicated on basic religious principles, respect for international law, and alliances that resulted in wise decisions and mutual restraint,” the former president wrote.

“Our apparent determination to launch a war against Iraq, without international support, is a violation of these premises,” he added.

The criteria for a just war are well-established, he maintained, and have not been met in the current crisis with Iraq.

“War can be waged only as a last resort, with all non-violent options exhausted,” Mr Carter wrote.

“In the case of Iraq, it is obvious that clear alternatives to war exist.”

Adding to the Washington’s moral burden in planning to wage a war on Iraq is the fact that opposition to US military action is “an almost universal conviction of religious leaders” around the world, he noted.

Mr Carter, the 39th president of the United States, was the winner of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize. —AFP