ISLAMABAD, 16 September 2006 — Muslim nations in the Middle East should arm themselves with nuclear weapons to deter Western enemies from attacking them, former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed said yesterday.
“They should have tanks, warplanes, warships, guns and missiles,” Mahathir said. “Yes, they need to have nuclear weapons too, because only with the possession of such weapons would their enemies be deterred from attacking them.” Mahathir, who retired as prime minister in 2003, remains highly respected throughout the Muslim world.
He is currently on a lecture tour of Central and South Asia, and was addressing a conference on religious tolerance in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad.
Mahathir was the guest of honor at the conference, “Clash of Civilizations or Clash of Interests,” organized by AAJ TV.
Chief of Tehrik-e-Insaf Imran Khan co-chaired the conference, which was conducted by Talat Hussain.
Mahathir said that Nelson Mandela and Jomo Kinyata were branded terrorists when they were struggling for freedom but when they achieved freedom they became world leaders. He said the freedom fighters of Afghanistan and Iraq should not be branded terrorists. They are struggling for independence. The Americans have occupied their countries for oil and energy resources and the world community does not condemn US for violating international law and the United Nations charter. He said Islam advocates peace. It is a religion of peace.
“Muslims are confused by the interpretations of Islam given by some individuals,” he said, adding, “We must acquire more and more knowledge of Islam. We must learn from the Qur’an and the Sunnah.”
During his 22 years in office, Mahathir was known for his often-caustic tirades against the West and its policies in the Middle East.
“While I think we should not be selective in determining which nations should have, and should not have, I think the best thing we could do is to say that all nations should not have nuclear weapons and in particular this very, very, very belligerent United States,” Mahathir said. He criticized the Iraq war saying far fewer Iraqis would have been killed under Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship.
“Is there a difference between being killed by democrats and being killed by dictators? If only we could ask those who died.” Mahathir also spoke of a “Jewish conspiracy in the United States,” revisiting the subject of a speech he made in 2003 in which he said Jews ruled the world by proxy.
When asked whether Muslim nations in the Middle East should acquire nuclear weapons, Mahathir replied, “Well, if you allow Israel to have them, why should the others not have them too?” Israel, which has neither confirmed nor denied reports that it possesses nuclear arms, is generally believed to have the world’s sixth-largest stockpile of such weapons, including hundreds of warheads.
