-Caveat Lector- http://www.islam-online.net/English/News/2002-10/15/article02.shtml
West Must Not Forget The Causes of Terrorism: Mahathir Nobody doubts Mahathir's credentials as an opponent of terrorism http://www.islam-online.net/English/News/2002-10/15/images/pic02.jpg KUALA LUMPUR, October 15 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - While Western leaders condemned what they called senseless murder in Bali, veteran Southeast Asian Muslim leader Mahathir Mohamad said Tuesday, October 15, that there were causes for terrorism, and the West can do something about them. It is a theme Mahathir has hammered away at relentlessly since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, when Washington initially refused to consider there might be reason behind what it saw as some kind of simple, mad, bloodlust. Asked by Agence France-Presse (AFP) Tuesday to list what he believed to be the causes of terrorism, Mahathir said, "One, of course, is the continued attacks on Palestine, the terror attacks against them and their retaliation, and of course this idea of invading Iraq, and generally their attitude towards Muslim countries." He said previously, "If terrorism is to be stopped, then the injustice and the oppression of Israel against Palestine and its people must be stopped quickly first." But Mahathir also criticizes Muslims for bringing many of their problems on themselves through focusing only on religious learning at the expense of keeping up with developments in the modern world, leaving their states poor and weak and humiliated after what is seen as a glorious past. Musing on this recently, he noted the United States and its victorious allies in World War II had not ground their former enemies in Germany and Japan into the dirt but implemented economic programs to help them become prosperous - and friendly. He has also said "the answer lies in justice and fair-play, in being sensitive, in being willing to step back and to admit mistakes and banish the idea that any one race has a monopoly of the right values, the right systems and the right solutions to all the human ailments." Mahathir, 76, led Malaysia, a multicultural country with a Muslim majority, for 21 years and although he is known as a vocal scourge of western ways including globalization, nobody doubts his credentials as an opponent of terrorism. He has in the past year locked up without trial 63 alleged Islamic militants linked to the Jemaah Islamiyah group, accused of involvement in the Bali blast, and last week shipped home an American Muslim studying at a university in Kuala Lumpur to face terrorism charges. He has emerged since the September 11 attacks as a spokesman for moderate Islam, defending the faith while excoriating extremists who resort to violence. But he says the West's inept handling of the war on terrorism is making things worse -- and the U.S. plan to attack Iraq will simply promote more terrorist outrages. Commenting on the Bali blast, he said it was not a surprise because "I believe the level of hatred, the level of bitterness, frustration is greater than immediately after September 11. "That is because no attempt is being made to trace the causes of the anger which makes people willing to blow themselves up in order to carry out acts of terrorism." Australian Prime Minister John Howard, whose country suffered the most losses in the weekend Bali attacks that killed nearly 200 tourists, is now using Bush's logic - and facing the same dissent. "Terrorists murdered Australians in Bali, nobody else. They had no right, no justification, no possible moral explanation for what they did," Howard said in response to suggestions that Australia's strong support for the United States and a possible attack on Iraq made it a target. Bush, however, with a year to reflect on the U.S. attacks, seems to have accepted there may be a "cause" for terrorism. "We must together challenge and defeat the idea that the wanton killing of innocents advances any cause or supports any aspirations," he said Sunday. But, he continued: "We must call this despicable act by its rightful name - murder," and the murderers should be "brought to justice". It is a thesis Bush has repeated time and again, and time and again Mahathir has repeated his own - Bush is barking up the wrong tree, according to AFP. <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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