With the growing threat of war over the past few months, artists have been voicing their political views. Listed below are some of their beliefs about Iraq, love and karma.
"I think war is based in greed and there are huge karmic retributions that will follow. I think war is never the answer to solving any problems. The best way to solve problems is to not have enemies."
- Sheryl Crow
"Saddam Hussein is a barbaric murderous dictator. I wish the world were free of him. But the answer is not to bomb this great culture of Iraq out of existence to stop him. Why must the children of Iraq die by the thousands to stop a tyrant? It is not justice. And if we kill him, what will we achieve? We will have taken the most unpopular leader in the Middle East and turned him into the greatest martyr radical Islam has ever had." - Dave Matthews
"America, what the hell? What are we doing? Like, I can't believe it's gone this far. I can't believe that we're going to war. I still can't believe that we're a democracy and the President was voted in in a non-democratic way by the Supreme Court who were put in place by his father ... It's shooting fish in a barrel, isn't it?" - Michael Stipe
"I wish I was president. Keep us out of war - that's what friends are for." - Eddie Vedder
"We forget that bombs and missiles don't fall on top of cardboard dummies, they fall on people - children and mothers. The leaders are lacking love, and love is lacking leaders ... The values of the world are twisted and we need to go back to principles of love and forgiveness. That's the only way to survive ... The thinkers, the journalists, the artists of this generation are the ones who determine the thoughts of a generation, and we have to pronounce those thoughts so people wake up, so we prevent future disasters ... If we don't demand from our leaders a peaceful solution to the conflict, then we aren't even going to be alive to regret it." - Shakira
"Thou shalt not kill. God said that, not me. It's hard for musicians to know where to they stand. We haven't dealt with the threat of war for a long time. Everybody was preoccupied with young girls in stretch dresses. There has to be more to music than that." - John Mellencamp
"Clearly, there is no credible reason to wage war and inflict tremendous civilian casualties, in the name of some empty canister shells - which is all the inspectors have found so far. The aim of practical politics, and of this war on Iraq, is to keep the public alarmed. The Bush administration is carrying out an assault against the general population, and future generations, in the interests of narrow sectors of wealth and power. And Saddam Hussein's just the latest one in a long series of hobgoblins." - Tom Morello, Rage Against the Machine
- Compiled by Kristina Fiore, Features Editor
