In this case, I think it would have been OK for you to have quoted the
whole speech:
http://www.adl.org/Anti_semitism/malaysian.asp, despite
its length. (One can hear some of Dr Mahathir's words by clicking on the
links at the bottom of
http://www.filatelic.com/00-05/10OIC.html.) If
you had done so, the inclusion of your own "understanding" of the speech
might have been unnecessary.
We could all have come to our own understanding; that understanding
might be influenced by our understanding of history, geography and
economy, or lack therof, and our notion of whether or not it is
appropriate to generalize, to a group of more than one billion, from the
statement of one leader on the verge of retirement and the agreement of
another.
Some of us may wish to read other accounts of Dr Mahathir's opinion such
as the record of his answers to BBC viewers call-ins in 2003:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/3191639.stm.
jimfortune@compumarc.com wrote:
[color=blue]
> James A. Fortune
>
> Excerpts from Mahathir Mohamad's speech at the 57-nation Organization
> of the Islamic Conference (October 16, 2003):
>
> We need guns and rockets, bombs and warplanes, tanks and warships for
> our defense. But because we are discouraged from learning of science
> and mathematics as giving us no merit for the afterlife, today we have
> no capacity to produce our own weapons for our defense. We have to buy
> our weapons from our detractors and enemies.
>
> Today we, the whole Muslim ummah (community) is treated with contempt
> and dishonor. Our religion is denigrated. Our holy places desecrated.
> Our countries are occupied. Our people starved and killed.
>
> Jews rule the world by proxy... We are up against a people who think.
> They survived 2000 years of pogroms not by hitting back but by
> thinking. They invented Socialism, Communism, human rights and
> democracy so that persecuting them would appear to be wrong, so that
> they can enjoy equal rights with others. With these they have now
> gained control of the most powerful countries and they, this tiny
> community have become a world power.
>
> For well over half a century, we have fought over Palestine. What have
> we achieved? Nothing. We are worse off than before. If we had paused
> to think, then we could have devised a plan, a strategy that can win us
> final victory.
>
> I think he elaborated a program of action that is wide and very
> important. I hope the Islamic countries will be able to follow this
> very important road map. -- Ahmed Maher (Egyptian Foreign Minister)
>
> I understand these statements to mean that Muslims falsely believe that
> Israel is controlling the U.S. and Russia (among others) and that they
> need to embrace whatever technology is required to give them "final
> victory."[/color]
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Lyle
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