'Clash of civilizations' looms between Islam and West
Sun Jul 20, 1:15 AM ET

PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia (AFP) - The world has been sucked into a dangerous
"clash of civilizations" by the West's failure to understand Muslim
grievances, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said in an interview
here.

Speaking exclusively to AFP ahead of a visit by French President Jacques
Chirac, the veteran Southeast Asian Muslim leader defended his recent
vilification of Westerners as greedy warmongers aiming to dominate the
world.

And he stood by his call on Muslim nations to build up their military
strength so as to fulfill a Koranic injunction to "strike fear into the
hearts of their enemies".

When Chirac meets Mahathir here during a brief visit Tuesday, however, he
can take comfort from the fact that he is considered "sane and normal" --
some of the time at least.

Chirac earned the accolade for his opposition to the US-led invasion of
Iraq, although Mahathir qualified this as simply the "exception that proves
the rule".

"I don't believe anybody is one hundred percent bad. There will be people
who are sane and normal and who understand these things are wrong and reject
them.

"Yes, we see President Chirac is against (the Iraq war) and we appreciate
that, but that is the exception that proves the rule -- the rule is this
acquisitiveness, this desire to take what doesn't belong to you."

Mahathir, 77, first made his scathing remarks about Westerners -- or what he
called the "European race" and their descendants in places such as the
United States and Australia -- at a meeting of his ruling party in June.

He is due to retire in October after 22 years in power and told AFP he felt
he had "a duty to tell Malaysians that in your future there is going to be
this European pressure.

"You must learn how to handle it and to handle it well you must understand
these people."

Mahathir said his characterisation of Europeans as warlike and greedy was
"not actually criticism, it was just a statement of the facts". He cited as
proof a long list of Western wars, describing the conquest of the original
inhabitants of North America and Australia as "genocide".

This characteristic was reflected in modern times by the US-led invasion of
Iraq, he said.

"Now we see the actual invasion of a country because that country is seen to
be not democratic. How democratic is the imposition of democracy through
conquest?"

Mahathir said US President George W. Bush (news - web sites)'s statement
after the September 11 terror attacks that either "you are with us or
against us" was misguided.

"We are with them half way, but not all the way. As far as fighting against
terrorism is concerned, yes, we are with America, but the way in which it is
being fought we think is wrong so we cannot be with them.

"Conquering countries and all that does not put a stop to terrorism, they
enhance terrorism, they increase terrorism."

Mahathir said he was a reluctant convert to the idea of a looming "clash of
civilizations" put forward by Harvard professor Samuel P. Huntington in a
book of that title in 1996.

"I would like to deny that, but I'm seeing that this is happening now."

Citing as an example perceived Western bias towards Israel against the
Palestinians, he said "it gives us the impression that it is Muslims that
are targeted, so it is a clash of civilisations."

This could only be overcome by ending the oppression of Muslims and
"negotiations, talking to each other, trying to understand the problems of
the Muslim countries."

Mahathir said he had called on Muslim nations to build up their military
might so they could defend themselves against attack by the West, and not
for offensive purposes.

"This idea of striking fear into the hearts of enemies is part of the
teachings of the Koran.

"If they are strong then people will not attack them. But at the moment they
are not strong, and because of that, because of their frustration, their
anger, they resort to acts of terror.

"Would the United States attack China? It will not ... because if you do
that you are going to face a very big problem."

[And prices would go up at Walmart]