"I'm so proud to have covered this song," boasted George Michael

LONDON, March 11 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Joining he army of anti-war advocates, George Michael recorded a new song protesting Britain's unwavering support for the looming unjustified U.S.-led war on Iraq, reported a leading British newspaper Tuesday, March 11.

With war build-up on the upswing, George Michael wants as many people as possible to listen to his anti-war song, Grave, and consider the repercussions of war, said the Mirror.

"The protest song, which tells the haunting story of a dead soldier…is a lament for an American marine who died fighting for his country after seeing his colleagues slaughtered around him," said the paper.

"I'm so proud to have covered this song," Mirror quoted George Michael as boasting.

"I first heard it in 1971 when I was eight years old and it made such an impact on me, even when I was so young, that I knew it was the song I had to sing now. I want as many people as possible to watch it and think about what's happening in Iraq.”

According to the Mirror, George Michael has been an outspoken critic of any war on Iraq.

At the Brits he performed an anti-war version of his no 1 single Faith with Ms Dynamite and he has appeared on a host of shows using his celebrity status to sound the alarm over war.

"The Grave is a emotionally affecting song that will make tough listening for anyone bent on war," wrote the Mirror.

Hollywood stars protest war against Iraq

In another demonstration of mounting anti-war sentiments, Oscar winner Jessica Lange was among a clutch of Hollywood stars who delivered an anti-war petition, signed by more than one million people, to the U.S. mission to the United Nations on Monday, March 10.

Lange was joined by Ethan Hawke and Steve Buscemi in leading a small group of protestors to the mission in New York, where they handed over the petition which called for a tougher U.N. inspection regime in Iraq to replace the threat of military action against Baghdad.

"I do not want my children to inherit the legacy of this war," Lange told reporters.

"Americans are a moral people and that requires that we do not let our government lie to us about the righteousness of our cause,” she stressed.

The signatures for the petition were gathered worldwide over the Internet in just five days by a lobby group, Moveon.org, which is part of a peace coalition known as Win Without War.

Copies of the entire petition, which included 600,000 U.S. signatories, were handed to all 15 members of the U.N. Security Council.

"We are calling on the world's second superpower, the general public, to rise up and tell their governments ... that we can contain and control Saddam Hussein without war," said Tom Andrews, the national director of Win Without War.

"We want to give the U.N. inspectors more time to do their job. It is not too much to ask," Andrews said.

Hollywood has lent a publicity-generating voice to the anti-war movement in the United States, specifically through its own lobby group, "Artists United to Win Without War."

There has been speculation that anti-war actors and actresses will use the upcoming Oscars ceremony as a forum to put their message across.

Many Hollywood celebrities used their media power to show their anti-war stand, including Sean Penn, Ed Harris, Dustin Hoffman, Madonna and director Spike Lee.

At the Empire magazine film awards in central London, double Oscar winner Dustin Hoffman charged the Bush administration of exploiting the events of 9/11 and has manipulated the grief of the country.

"I believe, though I may wrong because I am no expert, that this war is about what most wars are about: hegemony, money, power and oil," he said.

On February 23, actor George Clooney said in the ARD television program "Beckmann" that he feared a war against the Arab country would eventually lead to a more vicious cycle of violence.

He branded the Bush administration hawks as war-mongers.

"You can't beat your enemy anymore through wars; instead you create an entire generation of people revenge-seeking," Clooney added