Russell Simmons and Mos Def are starring in anti-war television ads that begin broadcasting today. The two thirty second spots, one featuring Simmons and the other featuring the Mighty Mos, will run on cable systems that carry MTV, BET and CNN in New York City, Los Angeles and Washington, DC.

In them, the hip-hop stars insist that President Bush's rush to war against Iraq is premature, that Saddam Hussein is being successfully contained by United Nation's inspections, and that the enormous amount of money now pledged for war would be far better spent on such basic human necessities as food, health care, and education for those who now lack them.

Produced in New York by Danny Schechter of Global Vision, the television spots are the latest in a series of anti-war ads sponsored by Ben Cohen's True Majority organization. The actresses Susan Sarandon and Janeane Garofalo were featured in the earlier spots.