The United States-led military offensive in Iraq has strengthened its neighbour Iran, and led to a weakening of the moral authority of the United States, US civil rights leader the Rev Jesse Jackson said during a visit to Britain – writes Martin Revis.
“Saddam [Hussein] was a manufactured threat,” Jackson told Ecumenical News International on 12 November. “We had him contained through inspection by the United Nations, and there were no weapons of mass destruction.”
He added, “The war was about oil and hegemony, and not human rights. The action has resulted in a loss of moral authority and strengthened Iran.”
The civil rights leader is in Britain for a four-day visit at the invitation of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland and Regent’s Park College in Oxford.
Jackson is to help launch a programme designed to encourage more young black people to pursue higher education.
At a London media conference on 12 November 2007, Jesse Jackson also warned about growing inequalities between the world’s rich and poor.
[With acknowledgements to ENI. Ecumenical News International is jointly sponsored by the World Council of Churches, the Lutheran World Federation, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, and the Conference of European Churches.]