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World System and US by Seyed Javad 28 March 2002 19:04 UTC |
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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
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