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.American
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#31 . July 31,
2006. ..americanfreepress.net |
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P. 11, AMERICAN
FREE PRESS * July 31, 2006 Behind
the Scenes at Global Peace Conference from Michael
Collins Piper
The opening session
of the Perdana Conference |
Warhawks Will Be Called to Account
Dr. Mahathir Mohamad urges international
declaration against war
By Michael Collins Piper
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In
his keynote address to the Perdana Global Peace Forum, Dr. Mahathir
Mohamad noted that most people view war as “something that
happens somewhere else to other people,” when, in fact, “war
is about killing people — a test of the ability of nations
to kill.” He pointed out that, today, nations are looking
for “new ways of killing,” demonstrating that “We
are as brutal as ever. We have not really become civilized.”
However, he said, “War is not a solution to any conflict between
nations. War is a crime. We need to work in the longterm for war
to be seen as a crime. People who wage war should be treated as
criminals.”
Although Dr. Mahathir believes that it is vital for a nation to
have a national defense system, having arms doesn’t mean that
a nation is planning for war. He insists that nations should settle
their differences by means other than war.
“In war,” he said, “the winner is ‘right.’
The loser — even if he is defending his country — is
wrong, and he may be hanged.”
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Dr. Francis Boyle |
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Mahathir Mohamad |
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Mukhris Mahathir |
And in light of the current U.S. claim that it
conducted war against Iraq to bring democracy to that country, Dr.
Mahathir asked, “What is this ‘democracy’ that
the neo-conservatives are promoting?” pointing out that even
the new leaders of Iraq are unable to venture out of their protected
zones. “Are the people of Iraq free today?” he asked.
“It is undemocratic to kill people to make them accept democracy,”
he said. And now the United States is considering going to war against
Iran, a nation that has a democratically elected president.
Of the current United States domination of the United Nations Security
Council, Dr. Mahathir said that this is “a very undemocratic
way of sponsoring democracy.”
Dr. Mahathir asserted that it is time that voters in all countries
insist that candidates for high office give a pledge that they are
against war.
World War IV is already here, said Dr. Mahathir, pointing out that
it was not he who coined the term. Instead, it was such leading
neo-conservative voices as Norman Podhoretz, the longtime editor
of the American Jewish Committee’s Commentary
magazine and Dr. Earl Filford of the Foundation for the Defense
of Democracies, who declared that World War IV is upon us, echoed
by Efraim Halevy, the former chief of Israel’s Mossad, and
others.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld issued a Quadrennial Defense Review
Report, dated March 6, 2006, saying that the war will be a “long
war” that will last for “years to come.” Even
now, 350,000 American forces are deployed in 130 countries. Rumsfeld
was echoed by President George Bush who declared that the United
States was “in the early years of a long struggle” against
what he referred to as “a new totalitarian ideology.”
The origins of this war, said Dr. Mahathir, can be found in a policy
paper drafted by neo-conservative strategist Paul Wolfowitz who,
in 1992, called for the projection of U.S. military power with Islam
as its target. And now Iran is the latest target. In the same vein
as the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998, the U.S. Congress has now passed
the Iran Freedom Support Act. And the aircraft carrier USS Ronald
Reagan warship is now positioning itself for conflict.
And it’s a very strong possibility that nuclear weapons will
be used.
On-line video presentations of the complete speeches
by Dr. Mahathir and the others can be found at the Internet
website of the Perdana Global Peace Organization at: perdana4peace.org
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Dr. Mahathir said frankly: “The war criminal
Bush has declared that all options are on the table,” including
nuclear weapons. And yet, “Iran’s efforts count for
nothing,” including the fact that Iran is a signatory to the
Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty.
The warlike rhetoric and threats coming from President Bush, said
the former Malaysian prime minister, “are strong words from
the president of the most powerful nation in the world. He has already
shown us what he is capable of in the
war against Iraq. We must put a stop to this plans and stop the
killings.”
Expressing his sympathy for the American soldiers who must fight
the wars being waged by the Bush regime, Dr. Mahathir pointed out
that American lives will also be endangered endangered in the war
against Iran: “It is the ordinary man who will pay for the
price of this folly, but Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair are
protected and safe from harm,” noted Dr. Mahathir. However,
he said, “Peace loving peoples must mete out justice. The
international community must summon the political will to bring
these war criminals to justice.”
Dr. Mahathir directly confronted Bush and Blair: “They should
not be addressed by any honorific. They should not be called President
Bush and Prime Minister Blair. Instead, we should refer to them
as ‘War Criminal Bush’ and ‘War Criminal Blair.’
These are the war criminals. Have a good look at them.” Of
Bush, Dr. Mahathir said: “This is a man who told lies. The
whole nation knows he told lies.” And today the United States
is surviving on a war economy. It is a bankrupt country and its
currency has no backing. But billions of dollars are being spent
on weapons for wars that need not be fought.
While the mass media in the United States proclaims former Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as a man of peace, contrast that, said
Dr. Mahathir, with the way the media has treated Iranian President
Ahmadinejad and Saddam Hussein.
Ultimately, Dr. Mahathir asked: “Will Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld
and the other war criminals be taken before an international tribunal”
to be held responsible for the war crimes that are even now being
committed in Iraq? The November 2005 massacre at Haditha —
the murder of innocent people — has only recently been exposed.
But, said Dr. Mahathir, it was “not a random event.”
And referring to the so-called “preemptive” war that
the United States waged against Saddam Hussein in Iraq (and which
is being pondered against Iran), Dr. Mahathir commented, only partially
in jest: “Maybe if I were still in office, they might have
had a preemptive war against me.”
In reference to the Israeli-Palestinian dispute and the U.S. role
therein, he said that “No way can you have America as an honest
broker — a dishonest broker, maybe.” He compared the
role of the United States in the world today as akin to a situation
“when the police chief is breaking the law.”
In the end, Dr. Mahathir urged all good people who oppose war and
imperialism to come together and, he said, “God willing —
peace will prevail.”
(Issue #31, July 31, 2006, AMERICAN
FREE PRESS)
