Unlike the British and Australian Parliaments, as well as the US Congress and Senate where there were heated debates o­n war and peace in Iraq, the Malaysian Parliament has become a rubber stamp of Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad. As a voter and taxpayer, I am ashamed of a parliamentary farce that is so clearly manipulated.

Before the parliamentary debate (if we may be allowed to abuse the term 'debate') o­n March 24, all the major Umno-controlled media like the New Straits Times , Utusan Malaysia and Berita Harian published o­n their front page enlarged and coloured photographs of Iraqi children allegedly maimed by US bombs.

It is no coincidence. The publication of the photograph was to influence MPs to vote for the motion tabled by Mahathir.

Moreover, ever since the crisis began a few months ago, none of the news reports and op-ed sections in the mainstream media have been fair and balanced. Within this media environment, how can we decently hope for parliamentarty debates and consensus to be based o­n balanced and fair understanding of the Iraq war?

In short, the parliamentary consensus o­n Iraq is not credible and is faulty because it is based o­n misleading propaganda of the Iraqi regime, as well as media manipulation and deception mounted by Umno and Mahathir's supporters.

Stop the war against the Saddam Hussein regime? Not in my name!