PAS says roots of attack lie in Mideast injustice

PAS says roots of attack lie in Mideast injustice

KUALA LUMPUR (AP): A senior official of Malaysia's Islamic
opposition party said on Wednesday that the roots of the
terrorist attacks in the United States lay in U.S. policy in the
Middle East.

Hatta Ramli predicted that Washington would quickly blame
Islamic extremists for the attacks, especially Osama bin Laden,
already wanted for directing the bombings of U.S. embassies in
Kenya and Tanzania and the warship USS Cole.

"We expect the U.S. to point the finger sooner, rather than
later, at Islamic extremism," Hatta said. "This will affect the
religion's image and further alienate Americans from not just
Osama Bin Laden, but Islam as a whole."

But Hatta said that the American investigation should also
take into account the situation in Iraq, where a decade-long
embargo imposed during the Gulf War has stunted a generation, and
at the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"Only then can the U.S. find answers for yesterday's tragedy,"
said Hatta, a member of the supreme council of the Pan-Malaysia
Islamic Party, this Southeast Asian country's largest opposition
group.

American officials have focused on bin Laden as a leading
suspect in Tuesday's attacks, in which hijacked jetliners were
crashed into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon
in Washington.

The Islamic party emerged as the biggest challenger to Prime
Minister Mahathir Mohamad's secular government in general
elections in 1999.

In recent weeks, the government has detained without trial
several suspects, some of them party members, accused of
belonging to an alleged militant group said to be waging a
campaign of robbery, murder and bombings to install an Islamic
state.

The party has accused the government of trying to discredit
it. Hatta speculated that Mahathir, who marked 20 years in power
in July, could use the attacks to order more arrests.

"But he will be condemned by the world for using an attack in
the U.S. to strengthen his rule in Malaysia," Hatta said.

Meanwhile, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad canceled
official visits to Germany and Russia on Wednesday due to the
terrorist attacks in the United States.

Mahathir made the decision hours after postponing the first
leg, a stopover in Britain where he had been scheduled to meet
Prime Minister Tony Blair, the national news agency Bernama
reported.

From London, Mahathir had been slated to visit Russia for four
days starting Wednesday to hold talks with President Vladimir
Putin, followed by a three-day trip to Germany.

On Tuesday, learning of the attacks on the World Trade Center
in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, Mahathir expressed
sadness but urged the U.S. government against seeking revenge,
which he said could lead to even more deaths.

"What I am worried about is there will be retaliation and
counter-strikes," Mahathir was quoted as saying by Bernama.
"Because of these attacks, of course, America will retaliate.
This retaliation will lead to the deaths of many people and will
be followed by more counter-strikes."

Mahathir, 76, is Asia's longest-serving leader and has
frequently been critical of U.S. dominance of the world economy
and of smaller countries on security issues.

However, the United States is Malaysia's largest trading
partner and Mahathir says that the U.S. is a stabilizing force in
Asia.