<font color=green>I guess the Malaysian PM calls them like he sees them. We must not give them much aid. <g><font color=black>
ted
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famulus.msnbc.com
Malaysia PM says disbelieves U.S. claims on Iraqi WMD
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct. 4 — Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Saturday he did not believe the U.S. administration actually believed that Iraq -- under Saddam Hussein -- had weapons of mass destruction.
''If they suspected there were, they should have given (former U.N. chief weapons inspector) Dr Hans Blix a chance to carry out a full investigation,'' said Mahathir, who has been a strident critic of the U.S.-led war that ousted Saddam.
''I don't believe that they didn't know,'' he was quoted by the official Bernama news agency as saying.
David Kay, an adviser with the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, admitted on Thursday that a team in Iraq had not found any stockpiles of biological or chemical agents in the six months since the United States launched the war to remove what it said was a threat posed by weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
Kay did say, however, that there was ''evidence of Saddam's continued ambition to acquire nuclear weapons.''
An expert close to the U.N. nuclear watchdog on Friday refuted the former assertion, but supported the latter.
Speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, the expert said Kay's report was based largely on ''statements and opinions by scientists and officials with no apparent supporting evidence,'' but he added Iraq had planned to revive its atomic weapons programme until the U.S. invasion.
In the absence of proof, Mahathir said it was a lie for the United States to attack Iraq.
The veteran Mahathir, one of the world's longest-serving leaders and also an outspoken critic of many U.S. policies, heads a multi-ethnic but Muslim-majority country where maintaining religious and cultural harmony has often required all his political skills.
It was sad that the Bush administration was prepared to make the drastic decision to attack Iraq, he said, killing so many people in the process and based on grounds that were not fully proven.
Asked whether any legal action could be taken against Washington through the United Nations or other world bodies for attacking Iraq, he admitted:
''I think we can't do that, but what can be done is that their own people must realise this and use it when considering the leaders that they want to choose.''
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