People say that a picture tells a thousand words.

This was true at the public lecture session of the Perdana Global Peace Forum in Kuala Lumpur today when the audience had pictures, presentations and short visual clips to paint them the horrors of war without any words.

As the lights dimmed, the big projector screened images from atrocities committed by soldiers fighting their 'war against terror' eerily illuminating the faces of the crowd of almost a thousand people.

Earlier, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamed started delivering his speech calling for a stop to nuclear warfare.

Among the gory footage shown was that of the battles at Jenin (West Bank) and at Haditha (Iraq). Scenes where houses were torn down, family members mourning for dead, loved ones, soldiers dragging civilians and beating them up had a visible impact on the audience.

In between Mahathir's speech, a short video of fighter jets and stealth aircraft dropping missiles in Iraq and in Afghanistan were shown to illustrate how military might was used over innocent people.

Many of the images captured the essence of war, the inhumanity, the violence and the lost of civilian lives. One even told the story of Iman Walid, 10, who saw soldiers shoot her grandfather nine times and later killed the rest of her family. She was then left to die.

Her quote in the footage struck a chord with many. It read, "I couldn't see their faces well, only their guns sticking in the doorway. I watched them shoot my grandfather, first in the chest and then in the head. They then killed my granny."

Another shocking footage showed a number of soldiers beating up three teenage boys. Many in the audience could be seen shifting uncomfortably in their seats as they listened to the disturbing commentary.

"Yeah, not so tough now are you? Oh, that was a good punch. Hit him again!" made many appalled by such cruelty. The crowd who packed the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC) was quite clearly reeling from the poignance of the presentation. They later gave a standing ovation for Mahathir's speech.

'Stop the US'

In his speech, Mahathir blamed the Western superpowers for the warring world that we live in. When asked by a member of the audience as to how the US can be stopped, he answered that the common people can play a part by not re-electing war-mongering leaders.

"Bush told lies. Yet he was re-elected. The people have it in their hands to punish and this is the first court that they face. The court of the people."

Also, economics plays a role in curbing US's weapon development fund.

"They are the biggest economy in the world. But America is a bankrupt country. It has a double deficit - it has a deficit in trade and in its budget. But the American dollar is widely used and many countries create a demand for it thus giving it value.

"But if it is in debt and the currency has no backing whatsoever, then US would have no money to invent new weapons to carry out new wars."

He concluded that there is a price to pay if other countries stop relying on US dollars.

"When you devalue the US dollar or if you cause the US economy to collapse there is a price to pay (your own economy is hurt). But I would rather pay that price than allow them to kill people all over the world."