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Farrakhan calls for Bush impeachment and end to Iraq War

Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan on Sunday angrily denounced the war in Iraq and called for the impeachment of US President George W. Bush in an appearance billed as his final public address.

"What should they do about a man who has been lying to America?" Farrakhan said.

Then, turning to face Representative John Conyers, a Michigan Democrat who chairs the House Judiciary Committee and shared the stage in Detroit, he added: "If you won't impeach him, sanction him."

The 73-year-old leader of the Chicago-based black Muslim group told the tens of thousands at Detroit's Ford Field on Sunday that Jesus Christ and the Prophet Mohammed would embrace each other with love if they were on the stage behind him. Stressing religious unity, he said the world is at war because Christians, Muslims and people of other faiths are divided.

"Our lips are full of praise, but our hearts are far removed from the prophets we all claim," he said. "That's why the world is in the shape that it's in."

Farrakhan was released from a hospital last month after undergoing a 12-hour abdominal surgery related to prostate cancer.

There had been widespread speculation Farrakhan would use what supporters called a farewell speech to name a successor or to shift his movement closer to mainstream Islam. But Farrakhan instead devoted much of a wide-ranging, two-hour address to a critique of Bush's foreign policy, which he linked to prophecy of the apocalypse.

"Why did they invade Iraq? Why did they kill Saddam? Why did they kill his sons?" Farrakhan said. "The real story is Saddam Hussein became an economic threat."

He talked of President Bush's "wicked policies," and urged young people to avoid joining a military that will have them "leave one way and come back another."

He said the war had touched off a cycle of violence that would end with "cities destroyed ... not by a terrorist but by God."

Farrakhan also said the US had no right to deny nuclear power to Iran, saying, "International law says Iran has that right."

He also urged followers to read recent works by former President Jimmy Carter and leftist academic Noam Chomsky.

Thousands of Farrakhan's supporters listened from chairs on the playing field at Ford Field, home to the Detroit Lions.

Farrakhan's address was part of an annual Saviours' Day event marking the birth of the Nation of Islam's founder, W.D. Fard.
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