Church of England bishops have made their most outspoken criticism yet of plans for military action against Iraq with one of them accusing the government of acting as judge, jury and executioner.

They repeated their view that an assault on Saddam Hussein would unacceptably lower the threshold for war and said it could not be morally justified.

Church leaders have been unanimous in their opposition to war in the Middle East.

There is absolutely nothing new now which would justify us going over the awesome threshold of war Bishop of Oxford Richard Harris

The bishops have challenged beliefs that Iraq is linked with al-Qaeda or presents an immediate threat.

The Bishop of Birmingham Jon Sentamu said both British American governments showed their desire to act not only as investigators but judge, jury and executioner as well.

The Bishop of Oxford Richard Harries, speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme said a fresh UN resolution was absolutely essential if military action was to be morally justified.

'Danger and fantasy'

He said many bishops shared that view.

He said: "There is absolutely nothing new now which would justify us going over the awesome threshold of war, " he said.

This could have "unpredictable consequences" in the Middle East and an "almost certain" rise in terrorism across the world and in the UK.

He said believing that decisive military action could put things right was "a great danger and a fantasy", he added.

On Christmas Eve seven Iraqi children delivered giant Christmas cards signed by thousands of people to Prime Minister Tony Blair, urging him not to go to war.

The Church of England bishops call follows a similar statement from the Catholic bishops of England and Wales in November, calling for both sides to "step back from the brink" of war.

Concerns

They said that Britain had a moral responsibility to avoid war and called for sanctions against Iraq to be lifted as an incentive for Saddam Hussein's regime to improve.

Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams used his Christmas address to make clear his deep unease about the potential conflict.

And Catholic leader, Cormac Murphy O'Connor has also expressed his concerns.