FORMER MALAYSIAN PRIME MINISTER CALLS BUSH & BLAIR WORSE THAN SADDAM
DAILY TIMES, PAKISTAN - Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad
accused United States President George W Bush and British Prime Minister
Tony Blair of being more evil and greater murderers than former Iraqi
president Saddam Hussein and the Sept 11 attackers. In a speech to
inaugurate a three-day conference organized by his non-government
organization, Perdana, and aimed at criminalizing war, he said: "History
should remember Blair and Bush as the killers of children." . . .
The former premier, in an hour-long speech that was illustrated by
pictures of wounded children, deformed babies and tortured men, went on
to describe terrorist attacks, such as those of 9/11, as weak people's
retaliation against oppression by powerful countries, noting that the
root cause of Islamist terrorism was the injustices of the West,
especially in the Palestinian territories and Iraq.
While stressing that terrorism could not be condoned, Mahatir stressed
nor could the "cruel retaliation by powerful countries".
He went on to say that while the 9/11 attackers had killed about 3,000
people ? the US-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan had left approximately
600,000 dead.
"The terror caused (by powerful countries) is actually greater, and the
powerful countries are much more terrorists than the suicide bombers."
On Wednesday, conference delegates are expected to formally launch the
Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission to hold "trials' for world leaders,
including Bush and Blair, against whom common citizens file complaints.
While the war tribunal will neither enjoy the legal authority of any
international organization nor will be able to impose penalties,
Mahatir, 81, stressed that its aim was to condemn the accused in history
books.
"We should not hang Blair if the tribunal finds him guilty, but he
should always carry the label ?War Criminal, Killer of Children, Liar',"
Mahathir said. "And so should Bush and the pocket Bush of the Bushland
of Australia," he added, referring to Australian Prime Minister John
Howard, a staunch ally in Washington's campaign against terrorism. . .
dailytimes.com.pk |
