Muslims should support the war against Iraq because more Muslims would die under the regime of its present leader Saddam Hussein, said Dr Malik M Hasan, president of the Council of American Muslims For Understanding (CAMU).

He said Saddam has to be stopped now in order to end all the miseries and sufferings the Iraqis have been enduring since he led the country in 1979.

"The man has killed more Muslims than any other people in the history of Islam. He is responsible for the death of more than 1.7 million people and will be killing more if he is not stopped", Malik told malaysiakini o­n Tuesday.

He is also saddened that instead of condemning Saddam, many Muslims prefer to attack the United States and its administration for trying to save the people of Iraq.

"The war with Iraq will kill the most, (and I don't say this easily) 10,000 people. But if Saddam and his son whom he has groomed to be his successor were allowed to continue ruling Iraq, they could possibly kill 10 or 20 times more Muslims over the next five years.

"Yes I do not want 10,000 Iraqis to die but given a choice of ten (thousand) now to a hundred (thousand) that we would save in the future, the war is a better choice" he reasoned.