STRASBOURG, France (UPI) -- The European Parliament condemned the United States
Thursday for a raid on a Baghdad military complex last month that killed six
civilians, saying President Clinton should have consulted the Security Council
before carrying out such a massive retaliatory strike.

The United States said it fired 23 Tomahawk missiles at the Iraqi military
intelligence center in Baghdad on the night of June 26 because it had
incontrovertible proof that the Iraqi regime was behind an assassination attempt
on former U.S. President George Bush in Kuwait in April.

The Clinton adminstration justified the unilateral attack by saying under
Article 51 of the U.N. Charter, every country has the right of legitimate
defense against armed aggression.

The European Parliament rejected that reasoning with a majority of 34 votes. It
adopted a resolution introduced by Socialist lawmakers deploring President
Clinton's decision to take such "massive reprisals" without consulting the
Security Council.

The resolution acknowledged every state has the right to defend itself against
terrorist attacks, but it condemned reprisals which cause civilian deaths. The
resolution also rejected Washington's reasoning in invoking its right of
self-defense under the U.N. Charter, saying defense against armed aggression
"could not be invoked in this case."

In a separate development European deputies reaffirmed their opposition to the
death penalty and appealed to the governors of the U. S. states of Missouri and
Texas to pardon several death row prisoners who are mentally retarded or whose
crimes were committed while they were still minors.

The Missouri cases concern Walter Blair, Frederick Lashley and Chuck Lee
Mathenia, all due to be executed before the end of July. In Texas the European
Parliament's appeal concerns Danny Harris, who faces execution on August 11, and
Gary Graham, who was aged 17 at the time of his crime.

The deputies also appealed to the Saudi Arabian authorities to respect human
rights, provide those accused with access to defense lawyers and to end the
"barbaric" practice of public decapitations and amputations.