Keadilan and PRM today "firmly opposed" the threat of war o­n Iraq and urged the United States to solve problems relating to Iraq in diplomatic framework within the United Nations.

The two parties stressed that they were not defending Saddam Hussein because they would oppose "all regimes that are cruel, repressive and dictatorial".

"This does not exclude the o­ne in Iraq," said Keadilan president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and her counterpart from PRM Dr Syed Husin Ali in a joint statement.

However, they said there should not be double-standards in handling such regimes in the world, adding that any removal of a cruel leader or regime should be made by the citizens themselves instead of self-righteous foreign leaders who act merely o­n the basis of 'might is right'.

They questioned the reason for the US to take actions o­nly against Iraq, and not other countries which also

possess weapons of mass destruction.