"Out-terrorising the terrorists will not work"

"Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad told the United States on Thursday that 'out-terrorising the terrorists will not work' and forecast a long period of war driven by hatred, revenge and greed," reports Reuters.

Mahathir, a veteran Asian leader, accused the West of seeking to impose its brand of capitalist democracy by force and starving or bombing those who did not accept that model.

"It is blasphemy to say anything against democracy. If you do, if you resist, then you'll be considered a heretic and starved to death or bombed out of existence," he said.

He suggested that suicide bombers and hijackers such as those who attacked the United States on September 11, 2001, were driven by poverty and despair.

"Out-terrorising the terrorists will not work, but removing the causes for terrorism will," he said.

"The worm finally turned. The weak have now hit back in the only way they can. Groping for the enemy, the strong hits out blindly in every direction, in every part of the world. No one is free. Fear rules the world.

"Sanity has deserted both sides. Just as, in the stone age, the man with the biggest club ruled, in our modern and sophisticated global village the country with the biggest killing power rules," Mahathir said.

President George W. Bush's campaign against an "Axis of Evil" grouping Iraq, Iran and North Korea, was doomed to fail because it had the wrong target, he added.

Nice to see Mr. Mahathir joining our very own CIA in this assessment of the "roots of terorism." "Apologists!" the neocons will surely cry.