Tun Mahathir protests war drums on Iran

After the devastation in Iraq where more than a million Iraqi citizens have been killed, millions displaced as refugees in neighbouring countries, and the barbarity committed in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay, one would have thought that war as an option to resolve international disputes would be rejected except as a last resort or in self-defence.

But war drums are beating loudly again and young men and women are being trained to wage another murderous war, this time against another hapless country, Iran. The alleged crime, for which the world’s citizens are called in to support, is that Iran is producing nuclear weapons.

They lied regarding the WMD in Iraq.

Now, despite statements by the IAEA that there is no evidence of Iran embarking on any nuclear weapons programme, the war mongering nations are once again claiming otherwise and demanding this to be an excuse for war. Clearly they are lying again. Once again they want an excuse for going against another oil rich country which is also a Muslim country.

Israel has now called for the dismissal of El Baradei for reporting the truth about the current state of affairs in Iran. Britain’s Prime Minister has however issued a statement that Britain would support and lead in the war against Iran. President Bush and Vice-President Cheney are equally, if not more belligerent in calling for a war against Iran.

War is mass murder.

It is uncivilised. Is the world going back to the age when disputes for honour were settled by duels in which the more proficient with weapons always had the upper hand? Are we to condone the mass killings of innocent civilians because of the folly and blood lust of their government leaders as was the case in World War I and World War II?

Let us not repeat a century of killings and mass murder by WMDs with another century of mass murders and the killings of the innocent.

Peace and peaceful resolutions of disputes must prevail.

I therefore call upon all world leaders, secular and religious, to join me in this global effort to condemn wars and to promote the peaceful resolution of the present US / Iran dispute and all future international disputes.

God willing our efforts will succeed.

DR. MAHATHIR MOHAMAD
KUALA LUMPUR
16TH NOVEMBER 2007