War is never a first or an easy choice. But the risks of war need to be balanced against the risks of doing nothing while Iraq pursues weapons of mass destruction.

US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld

We will fight to defend our country if aggression is taking place.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri

The problem here is that there will always be some uncertainty about how quickly he can acquire nuclear weapons. But we don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud.

US National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice

Although things are moving as if they were on wheels, none of the hawks seem to have thought of the probable political and geopolitical consequences of the conflict.

Panamanian columnist Guillermo Sanchez Borbón

This is an issue not for one state alone, but for the international community as a whole

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan

We should never resign ourselves, almost as if war is inevitable.

Pope John Paul II

Many countries, organizations, leaders like Mandela and Nobel Peace Prize laureate J. Carter have questioned the US government’s unilateral policy with respect to diverse subjects. Will they listen to the bishops?

Panamanian sociologist/playwright/activist Raúl Leis

We are convinced that a one-sided use of force would lead to great suffering for the population and increase tension in the whole region.

Russian President Vladimir Putin

Hussein believes he can inflict heavy casualties on the US. He apparently thinks that using chemical weapons against US forces during an advance on Baghdad, and forcing US troops into house-to-house fighting in the city, will raise the number and fear of more casualties sufficiently that the US will accept a UN-sponsored ceasefire. In his view, Iraqi forces are capable of achieving this. He may not be certain of it, but recall that Hussein is a risk-taker.

American security analyst George Friedman

The Iraqi Army and people are simply not prepared to lay down their lives for a dictator who has been treating them abysmally for so long. In fact, the Iraqis are keen to be freed from their oppressor, and don’t much care who helps them do it.

Saudi political analyst Jamal Ahmad Khashoggi

If one had to estimate the level of support in this part of the world [Latin America] to an eventual US-led attack against Iraq, I could sum it up in one word: zero

Argentine columnist Andres Oppenheimer

We historians call for a halt to the march towards war against Iraq. We are deeply concerned about the needless destruction of human life, the undermining of constitutional government in the US, the egregious curtailment of civil liberties and human rights at home and abroad, and the obstruction of world peace for the indefinite future.

Statement by more that 1,000 historians at US universities,
who are listed at http://chnm.gmu.edu/rhr/haw1.htm

The only missing ingredient was full Iraqi compliance --- immediate, full and active cooperation.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw

The revelation that the British dossier has been concocted from outdated sources and even plagiarized from a student thesis found on the Internet simply underlines the determination of the British government to drive to war regardless of the evidence.

Sinn Fein Irish parliamentary leader Caoimhghin Ó Caoláin

The conflict between the US and Iraq could escalate into a war between Christianity and Islam, which would turn into a race war. Therefore I do religious dialog and exchange marriage. This displays an example of people overcoming the division of color and religion. When this spreads, it will form lasting peace.

Washington Times owner Reverend Sun Myung Moon

If we end up in this war, it will mean we've returned to wars of conquest.

German actor Rolf Boysen

Everything Powell said about us is untrue.

Kurdish Islamic militant Ayoub Hawleri

Iraq appears not to have come to a genuine acceptance, even today, of the disarmament which was demanded of it.

Chief UN arms inspector Hans Blix

That is hardly enough reason to blow up the city of Baghdad with its civilians, with its women and its children in school. The only thing as crazed as this was the start of the Vietnam War.

American journalist Jimmy Breslin

The clash of civilizations that George Bush and his minions are trying to fabricate as a cover for a pre-emptive oil and hegemony war against Iraq is supposed to result in a triumph of democratic nation-building, regime change and forcible modernization à l'Américaine. Never mind the bombs and the ravages of the sanctions, which are unmentioned.

Palestinian educator and activist Edward Said

It is the common aspiration of the international community to safeguard the Security Council's authority when dealing with significant issues like the Iraq issue.

Chinese President Jiang Zemin

France considers that in between the inspection arrangements as they exist now and war, there are many, many ways to disarm Iraq. We have still not gone to the end --- far from it.

French President Jacques Chirac

I cannot go to the public and say, 'Well, let's go to war because there are reasons, and so on.' And I don't believe in that.

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer

Even if we say we are opposed to the use of military force, such action on an international basis cannot help but be taken if Iraq vows not to do anything at all.

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi

What I am condemning is that one power, with a president who has no foresight, who cannot think properly, is now wanting to plunge the world into a holocaust.

Former South African President Nelson Mandela

Saddam is a man who is going to run out of luck.

Former Panamanian President Guillermo Endara

Saddam Hussein didn't kill 3,100 people on September 11. Osama bin Laden did, and as far as we know he's still alive.

Former US President Bill Clinton

I hope the good people of Iraq will remember our history, and not pay attention to the hateful propaganda of their government. America has never sought to dominate, has never sought to conquer. We've always sought to liberate and to free. Our desire is to help Iraqi citizens find the blessings of liberty within their own culture and their own traditions."

US President George W. Bush