Mandela believes US threatens world peace
One of the world's most respected statesmen, Nelson Mandela, has condemned United States intervention in the Middle
East as "a threat to world peace". The former South African president repeated his call for President George Bush not
to launch attacks on Iraq. He charged that US President George Bush was trying to please the American arms and oil
industries.
And Mandela, 84, called some of Bush's senior advisers, including Vice-President Dick Cheney "dinosaurs". He said the
United States' backing for a coup by the Shah of Iran in 1953 had led to that country's Islamic revolution in 1979.
On Afghanistan, Mandela said US support for the Mujahideen, including Osama Bin Laden, against the Soviet Union and
its refusal to work with the United Nations after the Soviet withdrawal led to the Taliban taking power.
"If you look at those matters, you will come to the conclusion that the attitude of the United States is a threat to
world peace," he said. Mandela said the US was clearly afraid of losing a vote in the United Nations Security
Council. "It is clearly a decision that is motivated by George W. Bush's desire to please the arms and oil industries
in the United States," he said.
Mandela said no evidence had been presented to support the claim that Iraq possesses weapons of mass destruction,
while former UN weapons inspector in Baghdad Scott Ritter has said there is no such evidence. "But what we know is
that Israel has weapons of mass destruction," Mandela said. "Nobody mentions that." Mandela made it clear that the
only member of the Bush team he respects is Colin Powell.
He called Cheney a "dinosaur" and an "arch-conservative" who does not want Bush "to belong to the modern age."
Mandela recalled that Cheney had been opposed to his release from prison.
