Mahathir applauds stopping acts of terror BUT . . .

While mounting military operations against lawbreakers are logical and will probably be fairly effective, the acts of terror and the killing of innocent people will not end.

KUALA LUMPUR: Terrorism was a bane on the life of ordinary people and they never know when they will be victims of terror, pointed out former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in his latest blog posting. “We applaud the idea of stopping acts of terror. But mere military action will not defeat terrorists. Only the removal of the causes of terrorism will do that.”

“If we care to study history, we will not fail to note that such acts of terror have been escalating over the years. They are getting more and more terrifying and brutal all the time.”

Those who feel concerned would notice that these acts of terror are largely confined to the Arab States in the Middle East, added Mahathir. While mounting military operations against these people are logical and will probably be fairly effective, conceded Mahathir, the acts of terror and the killing of innocent people will not end. “The death of leaders or killers will be replaced by new recruits who probably would be more brutal.”

Mahathir was arguing why some of the rebels in the Middle East region decided to use the weapons supplied to them by America to fight for the setting up of an Islamic State. “To be noticed and to be feared they indulge in unheard of brutality. They slit the throats of innocent captives with short knives and they shot dead a lot of other innocent captives including teenage boys. They burnt alive some of their captives.”

“And now they have expanded their activities to Europe, shooting innocent people.”

The setting up of the state of Israel was fait accompli which even the Arabs had to accept, acknowledged the former Prime Minister. “The Palestinians put their faith in the Stockholm agreement but Israeli oppression continued. They killed Yitzhak Rabin to ensure that peace will not prevail.”

“The Arab countries accept the fact that they could never win a war against Israel. So they ceased trying after 1982.”

The world does not care for the sufferings and humiliation of the Palestinians, charged Mahathir. “It’s as if the Palestinians are not of the human race.”

“The sufferings of the Palestinian, the injustice towards them, the humiliation are felt also by other Arabs, even other Muslims.”

Now, noted Mahathir, the whole Arab world is in a state of turmoil as Arabs fight Arabs. “Groups of Syrian rebels were trained, equipped and financed by foreign powers to fight against the Bashar Assad Government. The government fought back.”

“There is an uprising in Syria. The civil war destroyed the whole country. Four million Syrians fled the country. They suffered terribly.”

The same thing was happening in Yemen, lamented Mahathir.

Earlier, added the former Prime Minister, Iraq was attacked by the American and British forces and Saddam Hussein was overthrown and hanged. “Without a strong Government, the Sunnis and Shias began to fight each other, committing brutalities against each other. Under Saddam they had lived in peace.”

Then the West urged the Arabs to overthrow the autocratic governments of many of the Arab states, continued Mahathir. “The result was chaos, anarchy and civil wars.”