The world has been sucked into a dangerous "clash of civilizations" by the West's failure to understand Muslim grievances, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said in an interview here.

Speaking exclusively to AFP ahead of a visit by French President Jacques Chirac, the veteran Southeast Asian Muslim leader defended his recent vilification of Westerners as greedy warmongers aiming to dominate the world.

And he stood by his call on Muslim nations to build up their military strength so as to fulfill a Koranic injunction to "strike fear into the hearts of their enemies".

When Chirac meets Mahathir here during a brief visit Tuesday, however, he can take comfort from the fact that he is considered "sane and normal" - some of the time at least.

Chirac earned the accolade for his opposition to the US-led invasion of Iraq, although Mahathir qualified this as simply the "exception that proves the rule".

Not 100% bad

"I don't believe anybody is one hundred percent bad. There will be people who are sane and normal and who understand these things are wrong and reject them.

"Yes, we see President Chirac is against (the Iraq war) and we appreciate that, but that is the exception that proves the rule - the rule is this acquisitiveness, this desire to take what doesn't belong to you."

Mahathir, 77, first made his scathing remarks about Westerners - or what he called the "European race" and their descendants in places such as the United States and Australia - at a meeting of his ruling party in June.

He is due to retire in October after 22 years in power and told AFP he felt he had "a duty to tell Malaysians that in your future there is going to be this European pressure.

"You must learn how to handle it and to handle it well you must understand these people."

Mahathir said his characterisation of Europeans as warlike and greedy was "not actually criticism, it was just a statement of the facts". He cited as proof a long list of Western wars, describing the conquest of the original inhabitants of North America and Australia as "genocide".

This characteristic was reflected in modern times by the US-led invasion of Iraq, he said.

Misguided

"Now we see the actual invasion of a country because that country is seen to be not democratic. How democratic is the imposition of democracy through conquest?"

Mahathir said US President George W Bush's statement after the September 11 terror attacks that either "you are with us or against us" was misguided.

"We are with them half way, but not all the way. As far as fighting against terrorism is concerned, yes, we are with America, but the way in which it is being fought we think is wrong so we cannot be with them.

"Conquering countries and all that does not put a stop to terrorism, they enhance terrorism, they increase terrorism."

Mahathir said he was a reluctant convert to the idea of a looming "clash of civilizations" put forward by Harvard professor Samuel P Huntington in a book of that title in 1996.

"I would like to deny that, but I'm seeing that this is happening now."

Citing as an example perceived Western bias towards Israel against the Palestinians, he said "it gives us the impression that it is Muslims that are targeted, so it is a clash of civilisations."

This could only be overcome by ending the oppression of Muslims and "negotiations, talking to each other, trying to understand the problems of the Muslim countries."

For self defence

Mahathir said he had called on Muslim nations to build up their military might so they could defend themselves against attack by the West, and not for offensive purposes.

"This idea of striking fear into the hearts of enemies is part of the teachings of the Koran.

"If they are strong then people will not attack them. But at the moment they are not strong, and because of that, because of their frustration, their anger, they resort to acts of terror.

"Would the United States attack China? It will not...because if you do that you are going to face a very big problem." - AFP