Iraq war an effort to out-terrorise terrorists: Mahathir

[Thinkerman]

Iraq war an effort to out-terrorise terrorists: Mahathir

May 13 2003

 

 

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said the US-led war in Iraq appeared to be an attempt to "out-terrorise the terrorists" and had caused all weaker nations to fear invasion by world powers.

 

Mahathir, a strident critic of the US and British-led Iraq war, in a speech honouring visiting German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said the world was not dealing with a major cause of global terrorism - the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

 

"Instead, we see an attempt to out-terrorise the terrorists to deter them," Mahathir was quoted by Malaysian media as saying in the speech late yesterday.

 

"Now countries are being threatened and invaded even though there is no proof of their involvement in terrorism," the New Straits Times newspaper quoted Mahathir as saying.

 

The attack on Iraq was seen by the Muslim world as an attempt to terrify Islamic nations, he was cited as saying. He said small countries now lived in fear not only of terrorism but of unilateral action by more powerful nations.

 

 

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"We can expect no protection from international organisations like the UN since powerful countries like the United States and Britain can attack Iraq without the sanction of the UN," Mahathir was quoted as saying.

 

Mahathir made his speech at a dinner function for Schroeder, the first German chancellor to visit this South-East Asian country. Earlier yesterday, Schroeder, also an opponent of the Iraq war, held talks with Mahathir and later, in a speech, strongly endorsed the United Nations as a crucial forum for resolving global problems.

 

Schroeder is on a four-nation trip to South-East Asia. He was due to leave Malaysia today for Singapore, then travel to Indonesia and Vietnam.

 

Malaysian officials said both leaders agreed during their talks that the United Nations should play a central post-war role in Iraq, Malaysian officials said. Topics of the talks ranged from trade to terrorism and the war.

 

Malaysia, a mostly moderate Muslim country of about 24 million people, has loudly criticised the war in Iraq and the marginalisation of the United Nations by US policy. Germany, along with France, Russia and China, was a key opponent in the UN Security Council of authorising the US- and British-led invasion

[Gabbal]

"We can expect no protection from international organisations like the UN since powerful countries like the United States and Britain can attack Iraq without the sanction of the UN,"

Nice piece Shujui :cool: