WASHINGTON, 28 September — Three Christian ethicists have spoken out in opposition to a "pre-emptive war on Iraq," and voiced their support for a statement signed by 100 Christian scholars and intellectuals who disagree with the Bush administration’s push to attack Iraq.

Their announcement this week was in response to last Friday’s White House announcement that the United States would keep world peace by a superior military force and by "acting pre-emptively" so that "freedom, democracy and free enterprise" and centrist Islamic states can prosper.

"Our president is putting this in such simplistic terms: ‘We want to get rid of those evil people,’" said Reverend Cheryl Sanders, professor of Christian ethics at Howard Divinity School in Washington. "This analysis of evil is very one-sided."

Since President Bush delivered his Iraq policy speech at the United Nations on Sept. 12, a number of Christian leaders have voiced their opposition to attacking Iraq. The Catholic Church hierarchy said they find it "difficult to justify extending the war on terrorism to Iraq."

Rev. Shaun Casey of Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington, said he does not view the Bush administration’s reasons for attacking Iraq as a just cause, and feels it is a "last resort that may produce more harm than it hopes to remedy."

He reminded the audience that "the Iraqis are not amassing on our border," and added self-defense is not proven and pre-emptive aggression could put the "credibility of our military at state."

As an alternative to war, he said, the Iraqi regime could be controlled by weapons inspections, international pressure or even a domestic revolt.

They said a military invasion could produce greater harm by sparking a war in the Middle East or between India and Pakistan, which might copy the pre-emptive doctrine.

An attack on Iraq may "produce the devastating consequences of an Arab-Israeli war or an Indian attack on Pakistan, making Saddam’s tenure a lesser evil," said Rev. Casey.

"Since it is very doubtful that UN authorization for the removal of Saddam Hussein can be obtained," said Rev. John Langan, a professor of Catholic Social Thought, Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Georgetown University, and "in the absence of such authorization, efforts to remove him come much closer to a form of vigilante justice in which considerations of necessity and urgency outweigh the requirements of proper procedure and national sovereignty.

"Vigilante justice may do the right thing in some cases, but it does not have the stable support which normally results from reliance on orderly procedure and processes."

Adding he was not "totally opposed" to the principle of a pre-emptive war, he said it must be defensive in intent. "The threat must be imminent and grave — which is a level the Iraq problem has not yet reached."