Haider: Bush is a war criminal
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-06-18 09:38
VIENNA - Austrian right-wing populist Joerg Haider called President Bush a
war criminal on Saturday, days before Austria's government hosts Bush and
European leaders in Vienna.
Haider, whose group is part of Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel's
government coalition, said Bush's meeting with his European peers on Wednesday
was pointless as he did not expect the U.S. president to pay attention to what
Europe had to tell him.
"He is a war criminal. He brought about the war against Iraq deliberately,
with lies and falsehoods," Haider said in an interview with Austrian daily
newspaper Die Presse.
"The Iraqi population is suffering terribly. Bush took the risk of an
enormous number of victims," said Haider.
Maverick Haider is a personal friend of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and
visited Iraq's former President Saddam Hussein shortly before the U.S.-led
invasion started in 2003.
Austria's attitude toward the United States has worsened over the last three
years, Die Presse reported separately, citing a Eurobarometer poll.
The poll showed 62 percent thought the United States played a negative role
for world peace, up from 56 percent in the same poll in 2003, Die Presse said,
and 49 percent found the U.S. role in fighting terrorism negative.
|
