US a threat to world peace: Mandela

Former South African President Nelson Mandela has called the United States “a threat to world peace” and said its belligerent policy toward Iraq was an obvious effort to appease the oil and arms industry.

Any move against Iraq must be made by the United Nations, not by a single government, Mandela said in an interview with Newsweek magazine.

Mandela, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, took issue with US claims.

“Neither Bush nor 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,” he said.

“Why should there be one standard for one country, especially because it is black, and another one for another country, Israel, that is white?” he said.

In the interview, Mandela criticized more than two decades of US foreign policy, including its support for the shah of Iran, mistakes it made during the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan and its willingness to ignore the United Nations.

“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,” he said.

“That is the message they are sending to the world. That must be condemned in the strongest terms.

US policy toward Iraq “is motivated by George W Bush’s desire to please the arms and oil industries in the United States of America,” he said.

Mandela also criticized Bush’s advisers, including Vice President Dick Cheney and Defence Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, calling them “dinosaurs” who are misleading the president.

“Quite clearly we are dealing with an arch-conservative in Dick Cheney,” he said.

Only Secretary of State Colin Powell was giving Bush good advice, he said.

“Powell knows the disastrous effect of international tension and war, when innocent people are going to die, young men are going to die.”