The Church of Ireland primate, Archbishop Robin Eames, has expressed concern about the deepening crisis over Iraq.
"I have just returned from a meeting of Anglican Church world leaders in Hong Kong and I have been left in no doubt as to the widespread concerns in Africa, the Middle East and the Far East about war in Iraq.
"There is a fear that if the United States initiates an attack, the entire region could be drawn into the conflict. Despite the publication of the British government's dossier on Iraq,those that I met seriously question the justification. There are questions rather than answers raised by the information that has been made public," he said.
"The moral issues of this situation outweigh the political even though it is difficult to draw a distinction," Dr Eames added. "I am not a pacifist but the Gospel imperative makes me think of what the Bible describes as 'the poor': the ordinary, innocent, vulnerable and defenceless people who are the real victims of any war."
In Iraq, he said, there were millions of people who would suffer and whose suffering would be far more drastic than "any economic or other inconvenience we may feel here in the west as a result of a war in Iraq".
He continued that he had "yet to be convinced that enough has been done to exhaust all avenues short of war to remove any real or imagined threat from Iraq."
