Fogh støtter Bush, som Mandela siger er en trussel imod verdensfreden

Jeg hørte i radioavisen at vores statsminister Anders Fogh Rasmussen,

har udtalt at USA måske kan bombe Irak ud fra de gamle

FNresolutioner!!!

Nu må vi vågne op

Samtidig lå der den nedenstående e-mail-artikel med interview af

Mandela sendt mig af en afghansk flygtningeven - med overskriften: Nelson Mandela: USA er en trussel imod verdensfreden

Jeg overlader resten af hvad der skal siges og gøres til gode og

Selvstændigt tænkende ikkevoldelige medborgere i Danmark og verden.

Med venlig hilsen

Arne Hansen

(Newsweek-interview)

Nelson Mandela:

The United States of America is a Threat to World Peace

In a rare interview, the South African demands that George

W. Bush win United Nations support before attacking Iraq

NEWSWEEK WEB EXCLUSIVE

Sept. 10 - Nelson Mandela, 84, may be the world's most

respected statesman. Sentenced to life in prison on desolate Robben

Island in 1964 for advocating armed resistance to apartheid in South

Africa, the African National Congress leader emerged in 1990 to lead

his country in a transition to non-racial elections. As president, his

priority was racial reconciliation; today South Africans of all races

refer to him by his Xhosa clan honorific, Madiba. Mandela stepped down

in 1999 after a single five-year term. He now heads two foundations

focused on children. He met with NEWSWEEK'S Tom Masland early Monday

morning in his office in Houghton, a Johannesburg suburb, before

flying to Limpopo Province to address traditional leaders on the

country's AIDS crisis. Excerpts:

NEWSWEEK: Why are you speaking out on Iraq? Do you want to

mediate, as you tried to on the Mideast a couple of years ago? It

seems you are reentering the fray now.

Nelson Mandela: If I am asked, by credible

organizations, to mediate, I will consider that very seriously. But a

situation of this nature does not need an individual, it needs an

organization like the United Nations to mediate. We must understand

the seriousness of this situation. The United States has made serious

mistakes in the conduct of its foreign affairs, which have had

unfortunate repercussions long after the decisions were taken.

Unqualified support of the Shah of Iran led directly to the Islamic

revolution of 1979. Then the United States chose to arm and finance

the [Islamic] mujahedin in Afghanistan instead of supporting and

encouraging the moderate wing of the government of Afghanistan. That

is what led to the Taliban in Afghanistan. But the most catastrophic

action of the United States was to sabotage the decision that was

painstakingly stitched together by the United Nations regarding the

withdrawal of the Soviet Union from Afghanistan. If you look at

those matters, you will come to the conclusion that the attitude of

the United States of America is a threat to world peace. Because what

[America] is saying is that if you are afraid of a veto in the

Security Council, you can go outside and take action and violate the

sovereignty of other countries. That is the message they are sending

to the world. That must be condemned in the strongest terms. And you

will notice that France, Germany Russia, China are against this

decision. It is clearly a decision that is motivated by George W.

Bush's desire to please the arms and oil industries in the United

States of America. If you look at those factors, you'll see that an

individual like myself, a man who has lost power and influence, can

never be a suitable mediator.

What about the argument that's being made about the

threat of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and Saddam's efforts to

build a nuclear weapons. After all, he has invaded other countries, he

has fired missiles at Israel. On Thursday, President Bush is going to

stand up in front of the United Nations and point to what he says is

evidence of...

.Scott Ritter, a former United Nations arms

inspector who is in Baghdad, has said that there is no evidence

whatsoever of [development of weapons of] mass destruction. Neither

Bush nor [British Prime Minister] Tony Blair has provided any evidence

that such weapons exist. But what we know is that Israel has weapons

of mass destruction. Nobody talks about that. Why should there be one

standard for one country, especially because it is black, and another

one for another country, Israel, that is white.

So you see this as a racial question?

Well, that element is there. In fact, many people say

quietly, but they don't have the courage to stand up and say publicly,

that when there were white secretary generals you didn't find this

question of the United States and Britain going out of the United

Nations. But now that you've had black secretary generals like Boutros

Boutros Ghali, like Kofi Annan, they do not respect the United

Nations. They have contempt for it. This is not my view, but that is

what is being said by many people.

What kind of compromise can you see that might avoid the

coming confrontation?

There is one compromise and one only, and that is the

United Nations. If the United States and Britain go to the United

Nations and the United Nations says we have concrete evidence of the

existence of these weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and we feel

that we must do something about it, we would all support it.

Do you think that the Bush administration's U.N.

diplomatic effort now is genuine, or is the President just looking for

political cover by speaking to the U.N. even as he remains intent on

forging ahead unilaterally?

Well, there is no doubt that the United States now feels

that they are the only superpower in the world and they can do what

they like. And of course we must consider the men and the women around

the president. Gen. Colin Powell commanded the United States army in

peacetime and in wartime during the Gulf war. He knows the disastrous

effect of international tension and war, when innocent people are

going to die, young men are going to die. He knows and he showed this

after September 11 last year. He went around briefing the allies of

the United States of America and asking for their support for the war

in Afghanistan. But people like Dick Cheney. I see yesterday there was

an article that said he is the real president of the United States of

America, I don't know how true that is. Dick Cheney, [Defense

secretary Donald] Rumsfeld, they are people who are unfortunately

misleading the president. Because my impression of the president is

that this is a man with whom you can do

business. But it is the men who around him who are dinosaurs, who do

not want him to belong to the modern age. The only man, the only

person who wants to help Bush move to the modern era is Gen. Colin

Powell, the secretary of State.

I gather you are particularly concerned about Vice

President Cheney?

Well, there is no doubt. He opposed the decision to

release me from prison (laughs). The majority of the U.S. Congress was

in favor of my release, and he opposed it. But it's not because of

that. Quite clearly we are dealing with an arch-conservative in Dick

Cheney.

I'm interested in your decision to speak out now about

Iraq. When you left office, you said, "I'm going to go down to

Transkei, and have a rest." Now maybe that was a joke at the time. But

you've been very active.

I really wanted to retire and rest and spend more time

with my children, my grandchildren and of course with my wife. But the

problems are such that for anybody with a conscience who can use

whatever influence he may have to try to bring about peace, it's

difficult to say no.