The ad, which will air in 13 major cities in the US, shows a little girl walking through a flowering meadow as a voice over warns of the consequences of war in Iraq. As she walks she pulls petals off a daisy one by one, and then the ad ends with the mushroom-shaped cloud of a nuclear explosion.
The ad was first seen on US television in 1964, as part of a campaign against the presidential candidate Bob Goldwater.
Intercut with the girl are scenes showing what could happen if war in Iraq spun out of control. Viewers see images of burning oil wells and wounded soldiers. It ends with the voice over saying: "War with Iraq. Maybe it will end quickly. Maybe not. Maybe it will spread. Maybe extremists will take over countries with nuclear weapons."
The campaign was financed by more than 10,000 individual members of the Internet group MoveOn.org The group said the images had been chosen deliberately to stir up controversy and public debate.
Eli Pariser, a spokesman for MoveOn.org, said: "Our message is simple. 'Please let the inspectors do their job.' As long as the United Nations team is still hard at work there's no reason to send in our troops and unleash forces that could escalate into the overthrow of friendly governments or chemical and biological warfare or even nuclear warfare."
The ad will show in Washington DC, Los Angeles, San Francisco and other major cities.
According to MoveOn.org, in various worst-case scenarios drawn up by American military experts, an Iraqi war could destabilise the region and risk the possibility that nuclear weapons will be deployed.
"The Bush administration must proceed very carefully or risk setting off a chain of events that could end in catastrophe," David Cortright, coordinator of the anti-war coalition Win Without War, said. "Even if a nuclear nightmare doesn't occur the other possible war scenarios could open a Pandora's box of instability and devastation."
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