France's Roman Catholic bishops warned Washington on Tuesday against attacking Iraq, saying an attack by the United States on the Arab country now would be illegal and would fan the flames of Islamic radicalism
The French Bishops Conference issued a statement questioning whether Iraq really presented an urgent military threat, as Washington has argued, and said all peaceful means to resolve the current crisis should be tried before any recourse to war.
''A clash between an Arab country and the United states would reinforce the arguments of the ideologues of Islamic radicalism to stir up the hostility of crowds that are lost and disinformed about the West (abusively identified with the United States) and its values of democracy and tolerance,'' it said.
''A war would widen the gulf that has already opened up between our people and those of that region...a gulf that strengthens the feeling that the big powers use a double standard to implement United Nations resolutions in the area.''
Traditionally Catholic France is home to Europe's largest Muslim and Jewish communities, and tensions between them often grow in proportion to tensions in the Middle East.
A wave of anti-Semitic attacks in France followed the tension caused by Israel's military offensive in the West Bank earlier this year.
While advising caution, the bishops' statement noted Iraq had violated human rights at home and international law abroad but said a resort to arms could not be justified unless it qualified as a legitimate defence of the countries being attacked.
''Up until today, the information available does not allow us to say these conditions...have been met,'' it said.
France has been trying to put a brake on the movement to war in Iraq by insisting the U.N. Security Council call two votes on disarming Baghdad before any attack can be launched, instead of the single resolution authorising military action that Washington has been campaigning for.
The statement was signed by the 12 bishops of the conference's permanent council, including France's leading Catholic clergyman, Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger of Paris