Mahatir -- Saddam would get death sentence for Mr Bush for killing 600,000 Iraqis

Former Malaysia PM Dr Mahatir Muhammad (Mahathir Mohammed, Mahatir Mohammad Mahathir Mohamad) has issued a

CALL FOR THE BAN OF WAR

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War should be made a crime, and any leader that takes his country into war, should be hauled before an international court.
Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand.

".. we claim to be civilised, we claim that we want to see the rule of law, we want to see justice done everywhere, we want to inprove the quality of life, et cetera, but, at the same time, we also claim that it is right to kill people in order to solve a problem"

The lunacy of war .. 600,000 people in Iraq have been killed in a bid to save them from Saddam Hussain ...

He calls for an international defence force to fight the threat of war and for anyone who initiates war to be held accountable before an internation court.
The current situation, where the victor of a war gets to control the trial of war criminals, such as with Saddam Hussain, is patently unfair.
"Supposing that Saddam has won the war, and Mr. Bush was in a court where the judges were Saddam's men? Would Saddam's judges pass a fair judgement on Mr. Bush. Obviously they also going to pass a death sentence on Mr. Bush, for killing so many Iraqis."

WAR IS A CRIME

Allan Weir a member of the international association of lawyers against nuclear arms says he welcomes Dr. Mahatirs comments. He says New Zealand has made some positives moves, such as not supporting the Iraq war, but he'd also like to see closer links with neighbors like Malaysia.

There seems to be a bit of a hesitancy, I think, to collaborate on initiatives with some of these countries because of our traditional alliance with the United States and with the United Kingdom. So, for example, Malaysia has a wonderful initiative to criminalise nuclear weapons at the international arena. That should be an easy thing for New Zealand to do, but New Zealand hasn't yet joined that initiative at the United Nations.

Anthony Shome, a lecturer from Massey University, who has written about Malay political leadership, says Dr. Mahatir is a very influential politician who dealt successfully with the hotbed of conflict in South-East Asia.

Mahatir is very outspoken ... he is admired .. privatise citizen
He has a sense of humour, balanced, articulate ...

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MAHATHIR AND 9-11
http://www.thepowerhour.com/news2/9-11_malaysia.htm
http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v3/news.php?id=202973

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A South African Newspaper is more perceptive:

 Mahatir condemns Saddam's sentence November 07 2006 at 07:22AM -- By En-Lai Yeoh

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - On Tuesday, former Malaysian leader Mahathir Mohamad lashed out against Saddam Hussein's death sentence, claiming the court was set up by his enemies in a "Nuremberg-type" fashion, incapable of a fair trial.

"It was a Nuremberg-type court, manifestly biased and incapable of being just," Mahathir said in a statement, referring to the tribunals for members of Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime over the killings of six million Jews during World War II.

Mahathir, who was predominantly Muslim Malaysia's prime minister for 22 years until retirement in October 2003, is well known for his blunt and critical comments about Jews and the West. He is also a vocal critic of the US invasion of Iraq.

While in office, Mahathir projected himself as a spokesman of the Muslim and developing world, winning widespread admiration among the people and leaders of poor countries. After retirement he set up an international committee to defend Saddam.

Saddam and two others were sentenced Sunday by the Iraqi High Tribunal to death for ordering the execution of nearly 150 Shi'a Muslims from the Iraqi city of Dujail following a 1982 attempt on his life.

"A court set up by his enemies has no right to try Saddam Hussein," Mahathir said in the statement. A court "set up by an illegal occupying power has no jurisdiction whatsoever to conduct the said proceedings," he said.

Mahathir added that if Sunday's verdict was right, then US President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair should also be tried "for the unlawful invasion and occupation of Iraq," the death of over 650 000 Iraqis and the brutal torture of thousands of innocent men, women and children in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay."

On Monday, Blair said he opposed the death penalty for Saddam - putting him at odds with Bush, who hailed the verdict. - Sapa-AP

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The NZ corporate-owned embedded APN newspaper NZ Herald dodges the important issues altogether and instead (in true corporate whore-style) focuses on political rivalries in order to diminish the importance of politics and enhance the importance of economics by default. The interest of the OWNERS of this world is paramount, you know. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10409674


War joke hits sour note with envoy
  Wednesday November 8, 2006 By Mike Houlahan
 
A joke made by former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in Wellington last night has angered the High Commissioner for Singapore.
 
Miss Seetoh Hoy Cheng was in the audience at Victoria University to hear Dr Mahathir's lecture, Criminalising War: The Path To Peaceful Resolution.
 
He said New Zealand had made a good decision not to maintain an Air Force strike capability and that Malaysia would also rather not have combat aircraft.
 
"We, of course, have to buy the latest aircraft ... in order to ensure that people will not attack us, by being prepared for war. I don't know whom we are going to go to war with. Maybe Singapore."
 
After the audience laughed, Dr Mahathir added: "The Singapore High Commissioner is not here?'
 
"Who are our enemies? We are buying weapons which we hope we will never have to use. Imagine that amount of waste."
 
During a question and answer session after the lecture, Seetoh Hoy Cheng - to much laughter from the full lecture theatre - identified herself and said that while she was encouraged by Dr Mahathir's comments supporting peace, she took exception to his comment about invading Singapore.
 
Afterwards, she said she was "livid" and was not at all amused by his comment.
 
Dr Mahathir said his comment was meant to be humorous.
 
"I was just joking. I wasn't going to go to war. That would be a silly thing. It would destroy both our countries."
 
During his lecture Dr Mahathir said all countries should renounce "offensive" war, and only wage "defensive" war as part of a world coalition against aggressor nations.
 
He said Malaysia was a small and weak country not much bigger than New Zealand and people in such countries needed to change their mindset about war.
 
"We should criminalise war ... We should begin to think this is not really the way of civilised people, killing others in order to solve a problem."