World System and US

Greetings,

An exclusive interview with Dr.Mahattir (The Prime Minister of Malysia) on US and International Politics within current world system:

US denunciation of Iran, Iraq and North Korea as "axis of evil"


 a big mistake: Dr Mahathir Mohammad                                   
Kuala Lumpur, March 28, IRNA -- Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir  
Mohamad on Thursday stressed that the United States was very wrong to 
denounce Iran, Iraq and North Korea as an "axis of evil."             
    He said Malaysia supports efforts to eradicate terrorism, "but we 
did not support the attack against Afghanistan."                      
    "I do not support attacks against any country. We are against     
violence and we won't go along with efforts to overthrow the          
government of any country," he said.                                  
    "I don't think they should spread the war to other places; that   
would only cause a great deal more anger and that will actually       
become a new cause for terrorism," Dr Mahathir told the US-based      
Associated Press, in an exclusive interview here on Thursday.         
    Dr Mahathir also expressed his disagreement with America's methods
of combating terrorism.                                               
    "I feel their strategy is not correct. We tried to share our      
experience in combating terrorists. We identified the source and then 
fought to vanquish the source.                                        
    "I have stated that the source (of the problem) here is the       
Palestine issue.                                                      
    "As long as this issue is not resolved, they will not be able to  
annihilate terrorists.                                                
    "We are sure many more will commit acts of terrorism because they 
are not willing to put up with the calamity that has befallen them    
like in Palestine," he said.                                          
    Malaysia will host an international conference on terrorism next  
week. More than 50 Islamic nations will attend the April 1-3 meeting, 
the goal of which is to define terrorism and how to draft an          
international convention against it.                                  
    Malaysia hopes it will lead to a UN conference on terrorism.      
    The prime minister also pointed out that the exclusion of Yasser  
Arafat from an ongoing summit of Arab leaders was a mistake and       
warned against widening the war on terrorism to include Iraq.         
    "He is at the center of these things," Mahathir, who rarely       
gives interviews to the foreign media, said of Arafat.                
    "Not to give him the chance to speak his mind is not contributing 
anything to peace.                                                    
    "Undermining Arafat is one of the reasons he is not able to       
control the extremists among the Palestinians."                       
    Of Saudi Arabia's proposal for a comprehensive land-for-peace     
pact with Israel, Mahathir said: "Of course it is not a perfect       
plan but it would be wrong to reject it out of hand."                 
    Speculation has been growing that the U.S military campaign       
against terrorism will turn next to Iraq. Earlier this month U.S.     
President George W. Bush warned Baghdad it would face unspecified     
consequences if it did not allow UN weapons inspectors to resume      
their task of ensuring Iraq is not stockpiling weapons of mass        
destruction.                                                          
    "I think we should try and use the UN agencies again," Mahathir   
said.                                                                 
    "Eventually Iraq will have to come around to accepting the need   
to satisfy the international community," he explained.

Kind

Seyed

University of Bristol