07/02/2007
LEAD - Mahathir Voices Support for Iraqi Insurgency

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Wednesday said he supports the deadly insurgency in Iraq and urged insurgents to kill more U.S. soldiers.

"Carry on. Plan your resistance. Make sure that the Americans will pay a very high price for their adventure," he told an anti-war conference organized by the Perdana Global Peace Organization that he founded after retiring in 2003.

"It will help the Americans to change their minds. Hopefully they will understand no one should hegemonize this world," said Mahathir, who is known for his outspoken, anti-Western rhetoric.

Mahathir also accused Washington of masterminding the sectarian violence between Iraqi Shiites and Sunnis that has claimed thousands of lives under a "divide-and-rule" policy to "subjugate" the Iraqis.

Also Wednesday, a tribunal initiated by Mahathir was launched to hear complaints of abuse and torture by victims of the war in Iraq and Israel's incursions into the Palestinian territories.

So far 10 people have come forward claiming to have been abused by U.S. soldiers in Iraq and the Israeli military in the Palestinian territories.

The tribunal, presently made up of nine former judges and legal experts, carries no legal weight.

The membership of the tribunal is now largely Malaysian. Among the non-Malaysian members is Francis Boyle, a professor of law at the University of Illinois and a former legal adviser to the Palestinian Liberation Organization.

Mahathir said the panel would be enlarged "so that the tribunal will be properly represented by eminent jurists from all corners of the globe."

Mahathir chairs a six-member commission that will verify testimony given by the victims to decide if they merit a hearing by the tribunal.

"This is a terrible time that we are living in when powerful, responsible people are quite willing to sanction actions that are totally inhumane," he said.

"I hope we will be able to achieve something in the way of assuaging the pain that has been suffered by so many people in Iraq, Palestine, Afghanistan and elsewhere."

Both the commission and tribunal met for the first time Wednesday on the sideline of the conference.

Similar attempts to establish an unofficial war crimes tribunal were made in Turkey in 2005. One of the recommendations from the previous tribunal was for U.S. President George W. Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and other leaders in the coalition to be held responsible for war crimes.

Mahathir, who ruled Malaysia for 22 years before retiring in 2003, has been a staunch critic of the Iraq war and Israeli incursions into the Palestinian territories.

http://asia.news.yahoo.com/070207/kyodo/d8n4rj080.html