HYDERABAD, April 6: Noted historian and intellectual Dr Mubarak Ali has said the US-led attack on Iraq is a clash between forces of peace and war.

Delivering his lecture on ‘US War Against Iraq’ at the press club here on Sunday, he added the US and Britain had given the same rationale for attacking Iraq.

Tracing the history of wars, Dr Mubarak maintained wars were always fought to take over the human and mineral resources of the weaker nations.

He said the Roman Empire had taken shape after conquering smaller nations.

He observed people had always taken refuge behind morality before embarking on the war path and added that several wars were fought in the name of religion and a “just cause”.

Later on, nationalism and secularism had substituted the theological basis for war, he added.

He said biological weapons were first used in the 17th Century when germs were transferred through blankets during a war. He said the US and Britain had provided the justification for their attack which had always been given by imperialist forces.