In
a message to Catholic military chaplains gathered at the Vatican, the
pope said: "The use of war as a way to settle conflicts between
nations was rejected by the conscience of a large part of humanity, long
before the United Nations Charter."
"Thoughts
for the victims, the destruction and the suffering caused by conflicts
always inspire great concern and anguish," added the pontiff.
Making
it clear that his remarks concerned the present conflict, the pope also
said that the only form of military action that could be considered
legitimate was in defense against an aggression.
The
pope also told the chaplains, who were in the Vatican for a training
course, that "when weapons go into action, the need for rules which
can make the conduct of warfare less inhuman becomes imperative."
"Your
course comes at a difficult time in history, when the world is once
again facing the sound of gunfire," the pope added.
Arabs
Ready To Sacrifice Themselves For Iraq
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Hundreds
of thousands of Syrian demonstrators hold banners against the war
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"We
will sacrifice ourselves for Iraq," demonstrators chanted in
Damascus as they marched from the Hijaz train station to parliament.
"Bush,
Blair, Sharon, the triangle of international terrorism," read their
placards, referring to U.S. President George W. Bush, Britain's Prime
Minister Tony Blair and Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon.
The
demonstrators, mostly civil servants, students and members of Syria's
Baath party-led ruling coalition, also carried portraits of Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad and his Iraqi counterpart Saddam Hussein.
Syria,
the only Arab member on the U.N. Security Council, has been a strong
critic of the ongoing war.
"The
Iraqi cause is inseparable from the Palestinian cause," read
banners carried by young protesters, in what was the first major
demonstration held in Syria since the beginning of the U.S.-led war on
Iraq.
Anti-riot
police posted around the U.S. embassy prevented the demonstrators from
approaching the mission.
Elsewhere
in the Arab world, thousands of Libyans as well as other Arab and
African nationals demonstrated in Tripoli, where they burnt effigies of
war allies Bush and Blair.
"With
our blood, we will sacrifice ourselves for you, Iraq," chanted the
crowd estimated to number 30,000 outside the Iraqi embassy.
Police
cordoned off roads leading to the embassies of Britain and Kuwait, where
a Kuwaiti flag was torn down on Sunday by protesters angry at the
emirate's support for the war on its neighbor Iraq.
The
bulk of the quarter of a million U.S. and British troops waging war have
used Kuwait as a springboard.
"Open
the borders, let us go fight," students chanted in Kafr al-Sheikh,
north of Cairo. "Bush, Blair, Sharon, go to hell."
More
than 3,000 students at Menufiya university, north of Cairo, also
protested, as did 2,000 from the women's section of Al-Azhar Islamic
university in the capital.
Students
in Alexandria on the Mediterranean coast said they had launched a
solidarity campaign, calling random telephone subscribers in Iraq to
pledge their support.
Almost
800 people have been detained, including 84 remanded in custody for two
weeks, following violent demonstrations last Thursday and Friday in
Cairo, according to a source close to the Egyptian bar association.
Street
demonstrations are banned in Egypt under emergency laws in effect for
the past two decades but they are tolerated on university campuses or
the compounds of mosques.
Egypt's
interior ministry said Friday that permits would be granted for peaceful
demonstrations.
In
Egypt's southern neighbor Sudan, a crowd estimated at 30,000 marched in
the capital Khartoum, burning U.S. and British flags, effigies of Bush
and Blair and coffins bearing the words "U.N." and
"democracy" outside the Iraqi embassy.
They
shouted slogans against the United States, Britain and Israel, and some
brandished pictures of Saddam Hussein.
The
secretary general of the ruling National Congress party, Ibrahim Ahmed
Omar, told the crowd, which the official Suna news agency put at one
million, "the Sudanese people are in the same trench as Iraq
against invaders and aggressors."
Indonesians
Snub U.S. Aid Funds
Indonesia's
leading human rights group, the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation, said
Tuesday it would refuse funds from the U.S. government and its allies in
protest at the invasion of Iraq.
"This
is a form of our protest against the attitude of the three countries
which have ignored the international community," foundation
chairman Munarman told AFP.
He
said his organization would reject all cooperation with and funding from
agencies supported or related to the U.S., British and Australian
governments.
On
Monday, March 24, the country's leading environmental watchdog -- known
as Walhi -- announced it would no longer accept funding linked to those
governments.
A
women's advocacy group, the Advisory Association for Women Entrepreneurs
in Indonesia, announced a similar move on Monday, Munarman said.
He
called the invasion a humanitarian tragedy and a gross violation of
human rights.
"We
are also calling on other NGOs in Indonesia to halt all kind of
cooperation with the governments of the United States, Britain and
Australia," Munarman said.
He
added that his foundation would halt a legal advocacy program funded by
the Australian international development agency.
The
program has been running for eight months and there were two months
left.
Munarman
said his organization would refund the 200 million rupiah (22,222
dollars) covering the two remaining months.
The
legal aid foundation currently has no funding assistance from the U.S.
Agency for International Development.
Malaysians
Demand End To War
Some
100 Malaysian peace activists gathered outside the United States embassy
on Tuesday to demand an immediate end to the war against Iraq, defying a
police ban on anti-war protests.
The
noisy demonstration was organized by youth members of the country's
ruling National Front coalition and opposition parties, including the
Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), and police made no effort to prevent it.
Chanting
slogans in Arabic and punching their fists into the air, the protestors
described the U.S. government as infidels (unbelievers) and Bush as a
devil.
"They
are infidels. They are creating havoc worldwide. God will give victory
to those who are innocent," they shouted.
Salahuddin
Ayub, PAS deputy youth chief told the demonstrators that the U.S. was a
"gangster."
"We
demand the U.S. to leave Iraq immediately," he said, as he led a
chorus shouting "down down U.S. God is great."
Hishammuddin
Hussein, youth chief of the ruling United Malays National Organization,
led a delegation into the embassy to hand a memorandum to ambassador
Marie T. Huhtala.
The
protest note condemned the unilateral military action by the U.S. and
its allies on Iraq.
It
also urged the coalition forces to cease military action and called on
the international community to extend immediate humanitarian aid to the
people of Iraq.
Indians
Seeking Medical Aid To Iraqis
Two
prominent Indian groups launched a nationwide appeal for emergency
medical aid for Iraq on Tuesday and urged New Delhi to help airlift
thousands of physicians to help the wounded in the war zone.
Islamic
religious organization Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind and satellite station Jain
Television joined hands to set up the "Iraq Relief Fund" and,
at a press conference here, urged India's billion-plus population to
donate money for war-hit Iraqis.
"We
propose to send a medical relief mission to Iraq. We appeal to everyone
for their support to ensure that airplanes loaded with doctors, relief
workers and medicines start landing in Iraq to serve the humanitarian
emergency that country is facing today," initiative convener J.K.
Jain said.
Jain,
who returned with an Indian delegation from Iraq recently, said the
U.S.-led military strikes were nothing compared to Iraq's degradation by
the sanctions imposed by the United Nations following the 1991 Gulf War.
"There
is clear evidence that Iraqi children born after 1991 have been deprived
of immunization, medicine and nutrition -- resulting in the death of
several hundreds of thousands of children," said Jain, also a
surgeon and an Indian lawmaker.
Pakistanis
Praying For Iraqi Victims
Hundreds
of Islamic party members joined by lawyers and traders offered funeral
prayers for Iraqi civilians killed in U.S. military strikes as anti-U.S.
protests continued for the sixth day in a row.
"Bush
should be tried for the murder of Muslims," President of the
District Bar Association Javed Khan Tanoli told an emotional crowd of
some 600 people in Haripur town, 80 kilometers northwest of Islamabad.
"The
government should snap diplomatic ties with the United States and close
down its mission in Pakistan," added Muslim scholar Ibrahim Zaheer.
Zaheer,
who is a local leader of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), six-party
alliance of religious parties, predicted: "Iraq will become a
graveyard of Americans."
The
protesters offered funeral prayers for the unknown number of Iraqi
Muslims "martyred" since the United States unleashed its war
of aggression on Iraq.
Iranians
Rally In Support Of Iraqis
More
than 700 people staged a protest in the southwestern Iranian city of
Ahwaz against the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, in the Islamic republic's
largest anti-war rally so far, state media said Tuesday.
The
demonstration took place Monday afternoon in the capital of the oil-rich
province of Khuzistan, 100 kilometers (60 miles) east of the Iraqi
border, the IRNA news agency said.
An
Imam told the crowd gathered in front of a religious school they had a
"religious duty" to support Iraqis, who were being
"crushed by the bombings and brutal arrogance of the United
States."
The
protestors chanted for the "death" of the United States, and
its allies Israel and Britain.
The
turnout was also notable because Ahwaz is home to more than 1.5 million
mostly Arab nomads and Bedouin who suffered badly during the 1980-88 war
with Iraq.
There
is little love lost anywhere in Iran for Saddam Hussein's regime because
of the war which cost an estimated one million lives.
However,
the government's propaganda arm, the Coordination Council of Islamic
Propaganda, on Monday called for the first time for mass protests
against the U.S.-led war after the mainly Muslim weekly prayers on
Friday.
Iran
has maintained a studied neutrality towards the U.S.-led war.
Afghanistan
Sees Anti-war Demo
In
Afghanistan more than 500 students took to the streets of the country's
main eastern city Jalalabad in the second major protest against the
U.S.-led attacks on Iraq, witnesses said.
Chanting
anti-war slogans including "stop attacks on Iraq" and
"stop atrocities on Muslims," the students made the five
kilometer journey from Jalalabad's university to the city center.
The
official Bakhter news agency said the demonstration ended peacefully,
while one official, who asked not to be named, said some protesters were
throwing stones at U.S. forces stationed in the city.
Tuesday's
protest follows a major demonstration Sunday, March 23, in the eastern
province of Laghman in which thousands voiced their opposition to
military intervention in Iraq.
130
Anti-war Americans Arrested
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An
anti-war protestor wearing a mask looking like former President
Bush as he demonstrates across the street from the Transamerica
Building in downtown San Francisco
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Anti-war
demonstrators thronged the streets of San Francisco on Monday, blocking
entrances one of the city's top landmarks as part of a dogged campaign
against the U.S. war on Iraq, police said.
The
protests were among scores who have erupted across the United States
since U.S.-led forces attacked Iraq last week.
Police
said they had arrested 130 people in the city's downtown financial
district for failing to disperse as hundreds of demonstrators waged a
civil disobedience campaign launched last week to protest the war.
The
protesters blocked the entrances to the famous pyramid-shaped
Transamerica Building as well as to the city's Federal Building that
houses government offices, police and organizers said.
Meanwhile,
hundreds of students occupied the main administration building at San
Francisco State University in another protest against the war and
cutbacks in education funding.
They
demanded to meet with the university president to discuss their call for
the institution to officially condemn the conflict raging in the Middle
East but eventually vacated the building after university officials
threatened to call the police.
The
protests came after more than 1,600 people were arrested on Thursday and
Friday in San Francisco in a campaign of civil disobedience launched
after the United States' initial strike against Iraq.