Posted on 10/18/2004 6:15:37 AM PDT by aculeus
WASHINGTON: Former Malaysian leader Mahathir Mohammad has appealed to American Muslims not to vote for George Bush on November 2.
In an open letter sent to the community, believed to number seven million, the former prime minister said during the past four years of the Bush presidency, the Muslims and their countries had suffered oppression and humiliation as never before in the history of Islam.
“There is an obvious connection between the sufferings of the Muslims and the policies and thinking of Bush. We cannot expect much change to the policies of the United States of America towards Islam and the Muslims under Democrats as under Republicans. But we have a duty to ensure that Bush will not be able to determine our fate for four more years,” he said.
Kerry, the Malaysian leader conceded, may not be any different, but the candidates for the presidency of the United States must be made aware that in democratic America, Muslim citizens have a voice and can influence the selection of the rulers of the country. “Bush has shown that despite his protests, he is the cause of the tragedies in Afghanistan, Palestine and Iraq. People, including children, women, sick and disabled people, have been and are being killed in these countries who otherwise would be alive today. Under the pretext of attacking terrorists, whole towns and villages with their populations are being destroyed by rockets and bombs. In Palestine, Israeli gun-ships and tanks razed villages and towns to the ground killing innocent men, women and children. All these are done with the approval of President Bush and his veto in the United Nations Security Council. There is no doubt that he will continue to do this if re-elected,” he told American Muslims. He said he did not wish to dwell on the atrocities committed against the Muslims and Islam, but would like to appeal to Muslim citizens and voters of America to be united and to cast their votes against Bush, in the name of justice, in the name of Islam. “You may not be numerous enough but in marginal constituencies you can make a difference. It is your bounden duty to send a message to candidates that they must be fair to all the communities in the United States if they wish to rule the country. Even if you fail to unseat Bush, you can at least reduce his majority,” concluded the message.
Instead of whining and sniveling and blaming Bush, how about a long hard look in the mirror?
Maybe this is the guy that Kerry was talking about when he said that foreign leaders had told him that they supported Kerry over Bush.
Isn't this the same guy that W chewed out at the UN after he went on a tirade about "da JOOOOOS"?
Nah, Mahathir retired in October of last year. Mahathir was deeply anti-semitic, and this colored his ability to reason. He was long overdue to step down.
Belated link to Belmont Club which features this story.
http://belmontclub.blogspot.com/
Maybe so, but how does that prove that it wasn't this guy? I remember when Kerry said that, the media made a big deal out of it. Maybe if we'd known who he was talking about, it would have been the Republicans making a big deal. Sounds like this guy's endorsement is a liability to Kerry more than something to brag about.
We never expected their vote anyway along with NAACP/SCLC/NOI/BPP and the CPUSA. When they look in the mirror they see a communistic idiot. Bush/Cheney 2004
For years Mahathir offered Al Qaeda a safe haven in Malyasia, and OBL kept a bank account there. Kuranic Arabic is now Malaysia's second language. Various terrorist conclaves were held in Kuala Lumpur, and the local Islamist organization, Jamaa Islamiya, provided safe houses for the crazies. Malaysian troops stationed in Bosnia smuggled arms to the Muslim mujahideed. Finally, the Jihadist and AQ leader Hassan Mustafa Bakre, whose home base was Malaysia, was captured in the Philippines in 2004 and admitted to training some 500 Muslims in bomb making at a base in Mindanao.
Makes perfect sense that he'd endorse Kerry, and perfect sense that based on this endorsement, Kerry would then make the statement that there are foreign leaders who support him.
It might be, if the average American ever heard of Mahathir....or Malaysia.
"Various terrorist conclaves were held in Kuala Lumpur,"
Source? I am not doubting you, but I live in KL about 6 months a year, and I never heard of this.
The meeting I recall best was held in 1998 when at least four Al Qaeda members were tracked there. As I recall, based on intell info the U.S. Embassy protested their presence, but nothing happened because Mathatir, a capitalist by proclivity, is an Islamist at heart. He counts among his close friends the Islamists Hasan al-Turabi of Sudan and Rashid Ghannouchi of Tunisia. Although the Bin Ladens were running suspect shrimp operations in Malaysia, he continued to offer the welcome mat to the family.
Thanks for the info. Most of the criminals in Malaysia are the illegal Indonesians, and they tend to stay in the outer suburbs. Mahathir was an a$$hole, unless you were doing business there....then he was a pro-business a$$hole:)
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