Mandela Blasts Bush On Iraq JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, Jan. 30, 2003 (CBS) Former President Nelson Mandela called President Bush arrogant and shortsighted and implied that he was racist for ignoring the United Nations in his zeal to attack Iraq.
In a speech Thursday, Mandela urged the people of the United States to join massive protests against Mr. Bush. Mandela called on world leaders, especially those with vetoes in the U.N. Security Council, to oppose him. "One power with a president who has no foresight and cannot think properly, is now wanting to plunge the world into a holocaust," Mandela told the International Women's Forum. Mandela also criticized Iraq for not cooperating fully with the weapons inspectors and said South Africa would support any action against Iraq that was supported by the United Nations. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer responded to Mandela's criticism by pointing to a letter by eight European leaders reiterating their support of Mr. Bush. "The president expresses his gratitude to the many leaders of Europe who obviously feel differently" than Mandela, Fleischer said. "He understands there are going to be people who are more comfortable doing nothing about a growing menace that could turn into a holocaust." A Nobel Peace Prize winner, Mandela has repeatedly condemned U.S. behavior toward Iraq in recent months and demanded Mr. Bush respect the authority of the United Nations. His comments Thursday, though, were far more critical and his attack on Mr. Bush far more personal than in the past. "Why is the United States behaving so arrogantly?" he asked. "All that (Mr. Bush) wants is Iraqi oil," he said. He accused Mr. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair of undermining the United Nations and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who is from Ghana. "Is it because the secretary-general of the United Nations is now a black man? They never did that when secretary-generals were white," he said. Mandela said the United Nations was the main reason there has been no World War III and it should make the decisions on how to deal with Iraq. He said that the United States, which callously dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, has no moral authority to police the world. "If there is a country that has committed unspeakable atrocities in the world, it is the United States of America. They don't care for human beings," he said. "Who are they now to pretend that they are the policemen of the world, the ones that should decide for the people of Iraq what should be done with their government and their leadership?" he said. He said Mr. Bush was "trying to bring about carnage" and appealed to the American people to vote him out of office and demonstrate against his policies. He also condemned Blair for his strong support of the United States. "He is the foreign minister of the United States. He is no longer prime minister of Britain," he said. That echoes a theme adopted by war opponents in Britain. Blair is to meet Mr. Bush for talks on Friday. Mr. Bush hosted Mandela at the White House in November 2001, where Mandela expressed his sympathy for the Sept. 11 attacks and said he supported operations in Afghanistan. Last July, the president awarded Mandela the Presidential Medal of Freedom -- the nation's highest civilian honor -- dubbing him "perhaps the most revered statesman of our time."
