THE Bishop of Salisbury has called America's national security strategy "destructive, damaging and contemptuous of hope" - his fiercest attack yet on the possibility of war on Iraq.

"It is a dangerous doctrine because pre-emptive self-defence hands all power to the powerful," said the Rt Rev David Stancliffe.

"The party that has the necessary muscle becomes the only arbiter and can choose enemies when and where it pleases.

"There are no checks on the exercise of such power, and it is accountable to no one."

Speaking in the House of Lords on Wednesday last week, the bishop said the United States' strategy only served to hinder attempts to build a world order.

"Firstly, it is destructive of honesty.

"Secondly, it damages trust, enthroning power in its place.

"And thirdly, it would be contemptuous of human hope for the future, assuming that people will always behave at their worst.

"This is deeply corrosive to our belief in the potential goodness of the human race."

America published its national security strategy in September last year.

The doctrine gives the country the power to strike against emerging threats before they are fully formed - protecting America and her allies by taking action.

"The new American strategy tears up what has long been the basis of international convention and replaces it with new standards for conduct.

"We will strike Iraq because there is a risk that, at some unspecified time in the future, Iraq will strike us.

"Alternatively, we shall strike Iraq because we believe that Iraq is concealing weapons of mass destruction.

"In neither case need Iraq have done anything."

The bishop said the precedents being set by America were of far-reaching importance.

"They affect the kind of world we shall inherit," he said.