Malaysian Leader: War May Bring Backlash

www.timesleader.com on Thu, Feb. 20, 2003 SLOBODAN LEKIC Associated Press

PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia - A U.S.-led assault on Iraq could push the price of oil on international markets to unprecedented levels - perhaps as high as $50 a barrel - and fuel a worldwide wave of terrorism by Muslims, Malaysia's prime minister warned Thursday.

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, expressed the apparently widespread sentiment among the mostly developing nations of the Non-Aligned Movement that an attack on Iraq was unwarranted.

He emphasized any new U.N. resolution on Iraq should be an impartial, well-reasoned decision and not blindly confirm U.S. and British efforts to justify an attack. "It must be meaningful, not just a change of words with the intention that whatever happens, war must be declared on Iraq," he said.

Mahathir also said U.N. inspectors should be given more time to determine whether Iraq has any weapons left and dismissed U.S. assertions that Iraq already had failed to comply with U.N. resolutions mandating its disarmament.

One of Asia's senior statesmen, Mahathir is to assume the chairmanship of the Non-Aligned Movement of mostly African, Asian and Latin American nations at a summit starting Monday. Senior officials of the 114 non-aligned countries met Thursday to set an agenda for the two-day summit, which is expected to denounce any U.S.-led attack on Iraq.

Wearing a gray Nehru jacket, the 77-year-old Mahathir appeared physically fit as he spoke in his office in Putrajaya, freshly constructed on outskirts of Kuala Lumpur as Malaysia's new capital.

In a wide-ranging interview, Mahathir, who has been in office since 1981, warned that Iraq might destroy its oil fields if attacked and that world prices would rise quickly as a result.

"Looking at what Iraq did in Kuwait, where it burned its oil fields, for a long time its oil will not be available," he said. "And we still have dependence on Saudi oil and oil from Venezuela ... which of course will cause a rise in the price of oil maybe to $50 a barrel."

The Malaysian leader also predicted that an attack on Iraq would set back efforts against international terrorism.

"I don't think overthrowing Saddam and trying to install a new democratic government is a solution that can actually happen," he said. "At the same time, it will cause a great deal of anger among Muslims worldwide and will contribute toward increasing the possibility of terrorism."

Founded in 1955 to steer a middle course between the West and the Soviet bloc, the Non-Aligned Movement has sought since the Cold War to reinvent itself to confront challenges of globalization and U.S. military and economic might.

While Malaysia, a predominantly Muslim nation, has been an active ally in the U.S.-led war on terrorism, Mahathir criticized Washington for shifting its focus to the confrontation with Iraq. He complained that the West ignored a key cause of religious extremism, namely "the expropriation of Palestinian land to create the state of Israel."

"We insist that you should look into the causes. People don't just blow themselves up without reason," Mahathir said.