OSLO, December 10 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter used his Nobel Peace Prize speech here Tuesday, December 6, to take a swipe at U.S. policy towards Iraq, warning that a so-called preventive war could have "catastrophic" results.

The 78-year-old Carter, the third U.S. president to win the prestigious prize, did not directly name either Iraq or the United States but made clear his opposition to U.S. plans to launch war against sanction-hit Iraq.

"For powerful countries to adopt a principle of preventive war may well set an example that can have catastrophic consequences," he said in accepting the prize, which recognizes his years as an international mediator for peace.

"We must remember that today there are at least eight nuclear powers on Earth, and three of them are threatening their own neighbors in areas of great international tension," Carter said, quoted by Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Again without making an explicit link to Baghdad, Carter also lashed out at economic sanctions like those the United Nations has slapped on Iraq for about 12 years now.

"They seek to penalize abusive leaders, but all too often inflict punishment on those who are already suffering from the abuse," Carter said, adding that the best tool for peace was the United Nations.

"It is clear that global challenges must be met with an emphasis on peace, in harmony with others, with strong alliances and international consensus.

"Imperfect as it may be, there is no doubt that this can best be done through the United Nations," he said.

Carter has been an outspoken critic of current President George W. Bush, who has been readying U.S. forces for an offensive on Iraq, which Bush called part of an "axis of evil" that is allegedly developing weapons of mass destruction.

Iraq has repeatedly said it has no such weapons and on Saturday, December 7, gave the United Nations a huge dossier around 12,000 pages of documents containing proof to back up its argument.

Washington has warned it will take action if Baghdad does not comply with demands to disarm.

Carter also advised Iraq to "comply fully with the unanimous decision of the [United Nations] Security Council that it eliminate all weapons of mass destruction and permit unimpeded access by inspectors to confirm that this commitment has been honored.

"The world insists that this be done," he said.

Carter often has been regarded as one of the better former U.S. presidents, but saw his actual term in office, from 1977 to 1981, dogged by the Iran hostage crisis as well as a weak economy.

"Jimmy Carter will probably not go down in American history as the most effective president, but is certainly the best ex-president the country ever had," Nobel Committee chairman Gunnar Berge said in presenting the award.

Yet Carter won plaudits around the world for negotiating the 1978 Camp David peace accord between Egypt and Israel, for which he was widely expected to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

Berge acknowledged that Carter "should have" won the prize in 1978, together with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, but said he was not nominated in time for the vote.

Carter established the Carter Center 20 years ago and has since worked as a mediator in some of the world's toughest trouble zones.

He has regularly pointed to the United Nations as a guiding light for global politics, and in his speech made special mention of U.N. Resolution 242, calling for Israel's withdrawal from occupied Palestinian land.

"There is no other mandate whose implementation could more profoundly improve international relationships," Carter said.

Carter said the United Nations has been the forum for negotiating global standards, including on land mines, chemical and nuclear weapons and global warming.

"Those agreements already adopted must be fully implemented, and others should be pursued aggressively," he said.

Carter also called on industrialized countries to overcome the "growing chasm" between rich and poor nations.

"We have not yet made the commitment to share with others an appreciable part of our excessive wealth. This is potentially rewarding burden that we should all be willing to assume," he said.

At a separate ceremony in Stockholm later Tuesday, the winners of this year's Literature, Medicine, Physics, Chemistry and Economics Nobel prizes will receive their awards from Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf in Stockholm.