Moroccan artists pay tribute to US anti-war stars

Moroccan artists and cinema fans paid on Wednesday tribute to US stars who spoke out against war in Iraq, during a ceremony that followed the screening of Michael Moore's "Bowling for Columbine."

"We praise the courage of American stars who said no to war in Iraq," said Mohamed Bakrim, secretary general of the association of the Casablanca cinema festival.

Moore, one of the first signatories of the "Not in my name" appeal, symbolizes resistance to war and to violence, he said adding "with their commitment against war, American stars have given another image of America."

During his Oscar acceptance speech at the Academy Awards, Michael Moore criticized President George W. Bush and the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

The documentary maker who won his first Oscar Sunday for "Bowling for Columbine," had said "We live in the time where we have fictitious election results that elect a fictitious president." "We live in a time where we have a man who's sending us to war for fictitious reasons, whether it's the fiction of duct tape or the fiction of orange alerts.

"We are against this war, Mr. Bush. Shame on you, Mr. Bush. Shame on you," Moore shouted in Los Angeles.

His documentary that had received the best foreign movie Cesar explores gun violence in America. The title refers to the fact that gunmen Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold went bowling before they opened fire at Columbine High School in Colorado, killing 12 students and a teacher before turning the guns on themselves.