Malaysia Urges US
To Leave Iraq
And Make Amends

NUSA DUA (Bali), May 3 (Bernama) -- Malaysia wants the United States to leave Iraq and stop being the world's "policeman in all and every sense of the word", the 116th Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) meeting was told today.

This was conveyed by Malaysian Member of Parliament Datuk Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar at the IPU's First Standing Committee on Peace and International Security.

He said that the nations involved in the prolonged Iraq war must admit their mistakes and seriously make amends.

"I know that it's not easy to be humble when you're victorious. I know too that it's not easy to be humble when your weaponry could annihilate the world 10 times over. But leave Iraq you must," he said.

Speaking on the fifth day of the IPU meeting here, he said the world knew that what was happening in Iraq was a manufactured war to control the country's resources and riches.

This could only result in mistrust and hatred in the hearts of the Iraqis who resented the colonisation of their homeland, he said.

Dr Wan Junaidi said that once the war started, no convention or rules could prevent those with the military might from carrying out violent acts, citing the harsh treatment of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay detention centres.

He pointed out that when pushed into a corner with their families and properties gone, those without any means to fight back would have nothing to lose by resorting to terrorism.

Terrorism, he said, was an ideology that could never be defeated by military might and that the aggrieved people could only be won over by capturing their hearts and minds through dialogues and discussions among equals.

Dr Wan Junaidi said Malaysia wanted the IPU, which comprises more than 140 parliaments in the world, to ensure that the right to life, liberty and happiness belongs to every citizen of the world and not just the people of any one country.

-- BERNAMA
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