Carter warns of catastrophic consequences
Tuesday, 10 December 2002 22:22
At the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo, former US President Jimmy Carter has said a so-called preventative war could have catastrophic consequences.
Mr Carter is being honoured for his efforts in international peace mediation over several decades.
He has been a critic of US President George W Bush's policy on Iraq, but he stopped short of directly naming Iraq or the United States.
Seventy-eight-year-old Mr Carter, the third US President to win the award, made clear his opposition to the Bush administration's desire to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
"We must remember that today there are at least eight nuclear powers on Earth, and three of them are threatening to their own neighbours in areas of great international tension," Carter said in his acceptance speech.
The US is meanwhile preparing to distribute the 12,000 page dossier, in which Iraq claims it has no weapons of mass destruction. The other four permanent members of the UN Security Council will receive copies.
Washington has warned it will take action if Baghdad does not comply with demands to disarm.
Meanwhile up to 300 people protested in Washington against any military action against Iraq.
The demonstration, which marked the 54th anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, later to moved to the center of the US capital.
