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Mandela's
comments, in which he also described British Prime Minister
Tony Blair, as the U.S. "foreign minister," came
at the International Women's Forum in Johannesburg. Mandela
urged women of the world to "condemn the looming war
America is preparing for."
"The
women's forum must make sure that all irregularities in
the world are rectified," he said. "A war on Iraq
is something we must condemn without reservation."
The
Nobel Peace Prize winner said the United States itself had
been guilty of atrocities in Japan when it had used the
atomic bomb on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during
World War II.
"If
there is a country which has committed unspeakable atrocities,
it is the United States of America," Mandela said.
"They don't care for human beings."
He said
he believed the United Nations was the forum to settle the
Iraq issue and he would support the world body's final decision.
"If
(Iraqi President) Saddam Hussein was not carrying out the
U.N. instructions and resolutions ... I will support them
(the United Nations) without resignation," he said,
"but what I condemn is one power with a president who
can't think properly and wants to plant the world into holocaust."
In Washington,
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer pointed to a letter
of support of the U.S. policy by eight European leaders
that was released Thursday.
"The
president expresses his gratitude to the many leaders of
Europe who obviously feel differently," 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."
Mandela
also said Bush's perceived disregard for the United Nations
is because U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is black.
"They
never did that when (the secretaries-general) were white,"
he said. "All Bush wants is Iraqi oil, because Iraq
produces 64 percent of oil and he wants to get hold of it."
He also
criticized Blair, Bush's key ally in Europe.
"He
(Blair) is the foreign minister of the United States,"
Mandela said. "He is no longer prime minister of Britain."
Mandela
said, however, he was pleased at the worldwide anti-war
movement, including in the United States.
"I
hope that that opposition will one day make him understand
that he has made the greatest mistake of his life,"
he said.
U.N.
weapons inspectors are in Iraq seeking proscribed weapons
of mass destruction and to ensure Saddam's government is
complying with U.N. resolutions. Washington maintains Baghdad
has a track record of lying to the world and says it will
disarm Saddam by force if he does not do it himself.
Copyright
2003 by United Press International.
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