New Delhi: Congress president Sonia Gandhi on March 21 assailed the United States and its allies for making a "fateful choice of war" without UN sanction and expressed solidarity with the people of Iraq, who would be the "worst sufferers of the catastrophe".

"Such a war, flying in the face of world public opinion and against the wishes of a majority of governments, will affect not just our physical environment, but has gravely damaged the foundations of orderly international life," she said in her first public comment on the US-led military action, which commenced on March 20.

Speaking at the fourth Rajiv Gandhi environment lecture, Gandhi said environmental devastation would be catastrophic if the full power of military destruction was unleashed.

"But whether that happens or not, what should concern us all is that serious and irreversible damage might have already been done to the UN, to the rule of international law and fraternity of nations," the chairperson of the Rajiv Gandhi foundation said.

Welcoming eminent environmentalist Prof Norman Mayers, who delivered the lecture on "Sustainable Development: a time of breakdown or breakthrough", Gandhi said the theme of the lecture was even more apt against the backdrop of the current international crisis.

PTI