Nobel laureates stand up against Iraq war
PTI[ SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2003 11:26:17 AM ]
LONDON: In a unique move, a dozen Nobel laureates on Saturday opposed the proposed US-led war against Iraq without a specific mandate from the United Nations.
"The undersigned oppose a preventive war against Iraq without specific mandate from the United Nations," they said in a joint letter to the editor published in the Times daily today.
"Military operations against Iraq may indeed lead to a relatively swift victory in the short term. But war is characterised by surprise, human loss and unintended consequences," they said.
"Even with a victory, we believe that the medical, economic, environmental, moral, spiritual, political and legal consequences of a US-UK-led preventive attack on Iraq would undermine, not protect, UK security and standing in the world."
The Nobel Laureates who signed the letter are Joseph Rotblat (Nobel Peace Prize 1995), Antony Hewish (Physics, 1974), Andrew Huxley (Physiology or Medicine, 1963), Brian Josephson (Physics, 1973), Harold Kroto (Chemistry, 1996), James Mirrlees (Economics, 1996), Paul Nurse (Physiology or Medicine 2001), Richard Roberts (Physiology or Medicine, 1993), Frederick Sangr (Chemistry, 1958 and 1980), John Vane (Physiology or Medicine, 1982), John Walker (Chemistry, 1997) and Maurice Wilkins (Physiology or Medicine, 1962). |
