I've always thought he wasn't the brightest bulb in the box ...
but I never imagined he's a lunatic ....
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) -- Former
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad urged Iraqi insurgents on
Wednesday to make the United States "pay a very high price" for its
occupation of Iraq.
In his most provocative public remarks on the Iraq war yet,
Mahathir said he wanted to "congratulate the Iraqi resistance" for
successfully turning public opinion against U.S. President George
W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
"Make sure that the Americans will pay a very high price for their
adventure," Mahathir said at an international anti-war conference
in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's largest city.
"Unfortunately, you may have to kill a lot of Americans. When the
coffins go back, when the body bags are carried back to America, it
will help the Americans to change their minds," Mahathir said to
loud applause from 1,500 activists.
Mahathir, long known for his strident criticism of Western
countries, said American soldiers will go to Iraq "and many of them
are going to die. They are going to go back in their
coffins."
Mahathir remains a respected figure in the Islamic world following
his retirement in October 2003 after 22 years in power. He
criticized Bush for sending troops to Iraq while remaining safely
behind in Washington.
"If President Bush is willing to lead his army, but from the front,
then by all means let's all go to war," he said. "But since he's
not going to do that, I think we should strive with all our might
to spread the new faith, the new belief that war is not an option,
war is not a way of settling any dispute."
Mahathir spoke after launching a tribunal that plans to hold trials
based on complaints by Iraqis and Palestinians against world
leaders including Bush, Blair, Australian Prime Minister John
Howard and Israeli ex-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
The Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal, which opened with a
preliminary meeting, does not have the legal authority of an
international organization and cannot impose penalties, but its
main aim is to condemn leaders in history books, Mahathir
said.
"We would like to hang them the way they hanged Saddam Hussein, but
I'm afraid we're not going to have that pleasure," Mahathir said.
"But there are other ways of making life miserable for them."
The nine-member tribunal is tasked with hearing cases recommended
to it by a separate commission chaired by Mahathir. On Wednesday,
the commission received its first petition signed by 10 people who
said they were victims of crimes against humanity in Iraq and the
Palestinian territories.
Most of the tribunal's members are Malaysian legal experts and
former judges, but it plans to add more foreign members. It is not
clear how long the commission will investigate the petition before
the tribunal starts working.
for a head of state, even a former one, to say these kind of drivel
goes way beyond embarrassing ...
it just goes to show that despite the petronas towers, despite
proton and all that, our friendly neighbour up north remains a
banana republic ... it's just a facade of first world modernity,
underneath all that the village politicians still hold sway
....
now I can really appreciate why I've never met a Malaysian student
overseas that wants to return to their home country ...
