Four faith and o­ne local social movement today urged the upcoming 13th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit to adopt a collective stand to reject a possible war by the United States o­n Iraq.

They also called o­n the superpower to disarm before asking others to do so.

The heads of these groups president of the International Movement for A Just World (Just) Dr Chandra Muzaffar, Professor Joseph Camilleri of the Melbourne-based International Christian Movement, Ajarn Sulak Sivaraksa of Bangkok's International Network of Engaged Buddhists, Dr Ahmad Syafii Maarif of Jakarta's Muhammadiyah, and Swami Agnivesh of New Delhi's World Council of Arya Samaj said the time has come for NAM to be "invested with new meaning and new life".

They said this in a joint statement released by Chandra during a press conference at the Just office in Damansara Jaya, Selangor.

Copies of the statement were sent to Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his deputy Abdullah Ahmad Badawi yesterday.

The summit will be held at the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur from Feb 20-25.

Stand together

"The member countries of NAM should come together and take a collective, unambiguous stand against a war o­n Iraq, even though many of them are poor and are dependent o­n US aids and other World Trade Organisation's benefits.

"If we do it together, we will be safe. But if you were to deal with US o­n a o­ne-to-one basis, they may twist your arms a little bit," said Chandra.

He said he was deeply moved when he read an article about an 18-year-old Japanese girl who flew to Baghdad to act as human shield.

"Can you imagine a young person putting her life o­n the front-line. In situations where people are prepared to do that, the least the governments can do is to say no to war," he added.

When asked, he said NAM countries including Malaysia should not cut off their bilateral trade and other interests with the US because "we will need to engage the US to tell them our feelings".

To a question o­n why the US seemed insistent about waging war o­n Iraq, Chandra said he believed that many influential individuals in the US administration such as President George W Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney have vested interests in and close links with oil companies and the arms industry.

Elaborating further, he said another reason could be that the Christian right wing group within the US administration has developed a more pronounced link to the Israeli Zionists over the past decade.

"The Christian right can talk about family values and other things but they support dominance and mega-corporations. They use religion to justify their position. Bush himself is close to Christian right (wing) leaders such as Jerry Falwell.

He added the US was showing signs of its downfall and therefore it is likely that there will not be a "new America's century".

Chronic problems

Just vice-president Ronald McCoy who was also present said the crisis in Iraq was a result of "chronic problems" with the global order over the years.

"Why is it that Iraq and North Korea are arming themselves with weapons of mass destruction?

"It is because they have been threatened to be attacked by the US and they feel they need to protect themselves in a world of double standards?" he asked.

However, he added many people around the world were aware of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's problematic governance and atrocities o­n his people in the past.

"If Saddam goes, it is probably a cause for celebration. But people do not want to see him go in the way that the US is planning for," said McCoy.

Meanwhile, in the joint statement, the five groups said global disarmament should be the urgent and immediate goal of the international community.

"The nation with the biggest nuclear arsenal and the world's most dangerous and most deadly weapons namely the United States of America should take the moral lead and disarm first," they said.

They said comprehensive disarmament in the Middle East should go hand in hand with an all-embracing solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict, adding that this could be achieved with the emergence of a sovereign and viable Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel.

They added the 12-year-old economic sanctions imposed by the UN o­n Iraq should also be lifted while far democratic reforms should take place in Iraq and a number of other authoritarian states in the Middle East.

The five said o­nce democratic reforms start to take place, people of the Middle East will shape their own destinies and foreign military bases in the region should be dismantled as quickly as possible.

Street violence

They said the US administration - backed by the Israeli, British, and Australian governments - appeared to be in a hurry to launch a war o­n Iraq and as such people fear that it is just an attempt to establish total control over Iraqi and Arab oil, to fortify Israel's position and to enhance

Washington's hegemonic power in the region.

Should a war o­n Iraq erupt, they noted there could be several implications, which included the further suffering of Iraqis.

The five groups warned the widespread anger felt by Arab populations towards their governments for their subservience to the US could also erupt into street violence and threaten stability in the region.

"There is every likelihood that the war and the deaths and suffering it will entail will give rise to acts of violence and terror o­n the part of Arabs and Muslims outraged by this unjust exercise of imperial power.

"Global terrorism may well cast an even longer and darker shadow o­n the world stage," they said.