West's leaders callous killers aiming to dominate world: Mahathir
Western leaders were accused of being callous killers using the war on terrorism as a pretext to dominate the world, as the 116-nation Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit opened here today.
The charge was laid by an impassioned Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who takes over from South Africa as chairperson of the organisation, before a record number of more than 50 heads of state or government.
"It is no longer just a war against terrorism," the veteran Southeast Asian leader told the opening session. "It is in fact a war to dominate the world."
In a vitriolic attack over the threat to invade Iraq, which is a member of the movement, Mahathir compared the political and military leaders of the world's great powers unflatteringly with suicide terrorists.
While the terrorists died as they attacked, "the great warriors who press the buttons see nothing of the mangled bodies, the heads and limbs which are torn from disemboweled bodies, the blood and the gore of the innocent people.
"And because they don't see, the button-pressing warriors and the people who commanded them go back to enjoy a hearty meal, watch TV shows or morale boosting troop entertainers and then retire to their cosy beds for a good sleep."
Western leaders were accused of being callous killers using the war on terrorism as a pretext to dominate the world, as the 116-nation Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit opened here today.
The charge was laid by an impassioned Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who takes over from South Africa as chairperson of the organisation, before a record number of more than 50 heads of state or government.
"It is no longer just a war against terrorism," the veteran Southeast Asian leader told the opening session. "It is in fact a war to dominate the world."
In a vitriolic attack over the threat to invade Iraq, which is a member of the movement, Mahathir compared the political and military leaders of the world's great powers unflatteringly with suicide terrorists.
While the terrorists died as they attacked, "the great warriors who press the buttons see nothing of the mangled bodies, the heads and limbs which are torn from disemboweled bodies, the blood and the gore of the innocent people.
"And because they don't see, the button-pressing warriors and the people who commanded them go back to enjoy a hearty meal, watch TV shows or morale boosting troop entertainers and then retire to their cosy beds for a good sleep."
Israeli terror: the major cause
Even for a man known for his outspoken views, it was an astonishing performance and obviously designed to set the tone for a summit expected to condemn any attack on Iraq without the support of the United Nations Security Council.
Mahathir, who was in May last year invited to the White House by President George W Bush as thanks for his support in the US-led war on terror, pointed to Israel's treatment of the Palestinians as a major cause of international terrorism.
He said the West's failure to condemn Israeli "terror" was what "infuriates Muslims, infuriates them to the extent of launching their own terror attacks."
Among Mahathir's audience were Cuba's Fidel Castro, India's Atal Behari Vajpayee, Pakistan's Pervez Musharraf and many US allies as well as some of its arch foes from around the developing world.
All three points in Bush's "axis of evil" Iraq, Iran and North Korea are members and were represented at senior level.
Iraq's Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan has promised to show the summit evidence in the form of documents and tapes to tell "the truth of what is happening in Iraq", an apparent response to US Secretary of State Colin Powell's presentation to the UN Security Council on Baghdad's alleged weapons of mass destruction.
A draft statement on Iraq, agreed after four days of wrangling by officials and foreign ministers, opposes any war against Iraq without the support of the UN Security Council.
Urged to cooperate
NAM, which represents more than half the UN membership, will also call on Iraq to "actively" comply with UN demands that it disarm.
The organisation groups mainly developing countries from Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America, but six of its members Syria, Cameroon, Chile, Guinea, Pakistan and Angola are currently sitting as non-permanent members of the UN Security Council.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said in a speech read on his behalf at the summit that weapons inspections in Iraq are making headway and must be allowed to resolve the crisis.
Annan insisted war was "not inevitable" and warned any action not sanctioned by the UN would lack legitimacy.
The US has warned that it could lead an attack on Iraq with or without UN support if it is deemed to have failed to comply with demands that it disarm.
Outgoing NAM chairperson, South African President Thabo Mbeki urged Iraq to cooperate with UN weapons inspectors.
"Peace and stability in our countries and the rest of the world demands that Iraq, a long-standing member of our movement, should cooperate fully with the United Nations Security Council and the weapons inspectors to satisfy all humanity that she has no weapons of mass destruction," Mbeki said.
Attempts to reach a consensus over a resolution on North Korea's nuclear weapons programme continued Monday after NAM states threw out a bid by Pyongyang to blame the United States for the crisis on the Korean Peninsula. AFP
