Former President Nelson Mandela on Thursday called US President George W. Bush arrogant and shortsighted and implied he was racist for ignoring the UN in his zeal to disarm Iraq.
Mandela urged the people of the US to join massive protests against Bush and called on world leaders, especially those with vetoes in the UN Security Council, to unite to oppose him.
PHOTO: AP
"One power with a president who has no foresight and cannot think properly is now wanting to plunge the world into a holocaust," Mandela said in a speech to the International Women's Forum.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer responded to Mandela's criticism by pointing to a letter by eight European leaders reiterating their support for Bush.
"The president expresses his gratitude to the many leaders of Europe who obviously feel differently" than Mandela, Fleischer said. "He understands there are going to be people who are more comfortable doing nothing about a growing menace that could turn into a holocaust."
A Nobel Peace Prize winner, Mandela has repeatedly condemned US behavior toward Iraq in recent months and demanded Bush respect the authority of the UN. His comments Thursday, though, were far more critical and his attack on Bush far more personal than in the past.
"Why is the United States behaving so arrogantly?" he asked. "All that [Bush] wants is Iraqi oil," he said.
He accused Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair of undermining the UN and its head, Kofi Annan, who is from Ghana.
"Is it because the secretary-general of the United Nations is now a black man? They never did that when secretary-generals were white," he said.
Mandela said the UN was the main reason there has been no World War III and it should make the decisions on how to deal with Iraq.
The US, which dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, had no moral authority to unilaterally police the world, he said.
"If there is a country that has committed unspeakable atrocities in the world, it is the United States of America. They don't care for human beings," he said.
"Who are they now to pretend that they are the policemen of the world, the ones that should decide for the people of Iraq what should be done with their government and their leadership?" he said.
He said Bush was "trying to bring about carnage" and appealed to the American people to vote him out of office and demonstrate against his policies.
Mandela also criticized Iraq for not cooperating fully with the weapons inspectors and said South Africa would support any action against Iraq that was supported by the UN.
He also condemned Blair for his strong support of the US.
"He is the foreign minister of the United States. He is no longer prime minister of Britain," he said.
RISK REMAINS: An official said that with the US presidential elections so close, it is unclear if China would hold war games or keep its reaction to angry words The Ministry of National Defense said it was “on alert” as it detected a Chinese aircraft carrier group to Taiwan’s south yesterday amid concerns in Taiwan about the possibility of a new round of Chinese war games. The ministry said in a statement that a Chinese navy group led by the carrier Liaoning had entered waters near the Bashi Channel, which connects the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean and separates Taiwan from the Philippines. It said the carrier group was expected to enter the Western Pacific. The military is keeping a close watch on developments and “exercising an
FIVE-YEAR WINDOW? A defense institute CEO said a timeline for a potential Chinese invasion was based on expected ‘tough measures’ when Xi Jinping seeks a new term Most Taiwanese are willing to defend the nation against a Chinese attack, but the majority believe Beijing is unlikely to invade within the next five years, a poll showed yesterday. The poll carried out last month was commissioned by the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, a Taipei-based think tank, and released ahead of Double Ten National Day today, when President William Lai (賴清德) is to deliver a speech. China maintains a near-daily military presence around Taiwan and has held three rounds of war games in the past two years. CIA Director William Burns last year said that Chinese President Xi Jinping
REACTION TO LAI: A former US official said William Lai took a step toward stability with his National Day speech and the question was how Beijing would respond US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday warned China against taking any “provocative” action on Taiwan after Beijing’s reaction to President William Lai’s (賴清德) speech on Double Ten National Day on Thursday. Blinken, speaking in Laos after an ASEAN East Asia Summit, called the speech by Lai, in which he vowed to “resist annexation,” a “regular exercise.” “China should not use it in any fashion as a pretext for provocative actions,” Blinken told reporters. “On the contrary, we want to reinforce — and many other countries want to reinforce — the imperative of preserving the status quo, and neither party taking any
President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday said that China has “no right to represent Taiwan,” but stressed that the nation was willing to work with Beijing on issues of mutual interest. “The Republic of China has already put down roots in Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu,” Lai said in his first Double Ten National Day address outside the Presidential Office Building in Taipei. “And the Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China [PRC] are not subordinate to each other.” “The People’s Republic of China has no right to represent Taiwan,” he said at the event marking the 113th National Day of
RSS