No justification for war against Iraq: Syed Hamid
Malaysia said the weapons inspectors' report to the UN Security Council showed there was no justification for war against Iraq, and suggested that an invasion could lead to increased Islamic terrorism.
"The new UN team has not come up with any certainty that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction," Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar told a news conference yesterday.
"How could one justify (saying) that Iraq has failed to cooperate with the UN team? We cannot support any decision now to say war should be declared on Iraq."
Syed Hamid was reacting to the report by UN chief weapons inspector Hans Blix, who criticised Baghdad for not having come to a genuine acceptance of disarmament but said inspectors had found no banned weapons since they began work Nov 27.
Anger
The foreign minister warned: "If there is war, there will be a lot of anger against the Americans, against the British and against the Australians.
"Where will this lead us to? Our war against international terrorism is not over."
Malaysia has supported the US-led war on terrorism, but Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has repeatedly warned that an attack on Iraq would provoke more Islamic terror attacks against Western targets. - AFP
For more news and views that matter, subscribe and support independent media for only RM0.36 sen a day:
Subscribe now