{"article":{"id":27672,"heading":"Mandela condemns US stance on Iraq","author":"bbc","created":"2003-02-01 04:04:21","modified":"2003-02-01 05:06:23","last_modified":"Sat, 01 Feb 2003 12:06:23","article":"

The US stance on Iraq is \"arrogant\" and would cause \"a holocaust\", Mr Mandela, a Nobel Peace laureate and one of the world's most respected figures, told a forum in Johannesburg.

<\/p>\n","contact":"","link":"http:\/\/news.bbc.co.uk\/2\/hi\/africa\/2710181.stm","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/plain","summary":"Former South African president Nelson Mandela has criticised US President George W Bush over Iraq, saying the sole reason for a possible US-led attack would be to gain control of Iraqi oil.","numcomment":1,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2003\/02\/27672.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[{"id":27678,"heading":"Mandela Backs 'Holocaust'","article":"It pains us to criticize Nelson Mandela, who was once a great man. But because people still take his words seriously--Reuters uses no scare quotes when it calls him "a towering statesman respected the world over"--we must reluctantly point out that in his old age Mandela has turned doddering and incoherent.\r\n\r\n"It is a tragedy what is happening, what Bush is doing in Iraq," Mandela said in a speech today in Johannesburg, South Africa. "What I am condemning is that one power, with a president who has no foresight, who cannot think properly, is now wanting to plunge the world into a holocaust."\r\n\r\nBut according to Reuters, Mandela also "said he would support without reservation any action agreed upon by the United Nations against Iraq."\r\n\r\nSo it seems Mandela is all for a "holocaust"--provided the French and Germans approve.\r\n\r\nMandela won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.\r\n","author":"OpinionJournal.com","parent_id":27672,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-02-01 05:06:24","modified":"2003-02-01 05:06:24","fileurl":""}]}