Former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad today "congratulated" the Iraqi resistance forces fighting the US-led military occupation of Iraq, urging them to "make sure the Americans pay a very high price for their adventure".

"I congratulate them, the Iraqi resistance. Carry on. You have been successful," said Mahathir, who chairs the Perdana Global Peace Organisation (PGPO), in his closing speech to the international conference 'Expose War Crimes - Criminalise War'.

He said the resistance forces in the country have proven that "it is not so easy to walk into Iraq and take things over," referring to initial US expectations that resistance to its military-led forces could be overcome in a matter of weeks or months.

Unfortunately, he said, the price of the lesson would be the increasing number of dead US servicemen being brought back to their countries. This, he added, could help sway the US public opinion against the invasion.

"When you do this, unfortunately you may have to kill a lot of Americans. When the coffins go back, when the body bags are carried back to America, it will help the Americans to change their minds," he said.

The 81-year-old firebrand was a strident critic of the West during his two decades in power, and has continued to hit out since stepping down in 2003, seizing on the issue of conflict in the Middle East during his retirement.

'Child killers'

Mahathir this week condemned US President George W Bush and British leader Tony Blair as "child killers" but his latest comments are the strongest so far on the military action in Iraq.

"I'm quite sure that as more and more American soldiers get killed in Iraq, the feelings in America will change and they will begin to see, as they saw during the Vietnam War, how futile, how useless are the sacrifices of the young men sent to Iraq," he said.

"Twenty-three thousand more will be going. They will be going to Iraq and many of them are going to die, they are going to go back in their coffins. And when Americans see coffins coming back they will understand what war is all about," he added.

He said the situation in Iraq today should make the US understand that "no one should hegemonise this world, dictate, change regime, or do what they like".

Mahathir was closing a three-day conference that has proposed the set-up of a war crimes tribunal that would try and punish 'warmongering' leaders and governments of aggressor nations guilty of war crimes. His remarks were met by resounding applause.

In his speech, he also said he supported war only if they were conducted as in the past when commanders-in-chiefs, unlike US president George W Bush, who declared war on other nations were at the forefront of the battle.

"If Bush is willing to lead his army from the front, by all means, let's all go to war," said Mahathir, deriding "commander-in-chiefs" who give battle orders "5,000 miles away".

Thick-skulled leaders

Later at a press conference, Mahathir said there was no contradiction between his call for the Iraqi resistence to continue killing US servicemen and his statements that "war is never an option for the settlement of disputes."

"If it is a defensive war, then it is justified. The Iraqis are fighting to defend their own country," said Mahathir.

"If Iraqis invaded the US, I would support the US," he added.

Earlier during his speech, Mahathir also said it would take time for civil society to convince policy- and decision-makers of the immorality and futility of war.

"Leaders, and of course, I was once (also) a leader, have very thick skulls. It takes time for things to penetrate (their skulls). (But) even thick skulls can be penetrated eventually," he said.

Let's blog

On this point, Mahathir said during the press conference that even he found environmental group Greenpeace "annoying" as he initially did not believe environmental issues were very important.

Over time, he said, he came to the realisation that it was, which is why a minister of environment was appointed during his tenure.

Mahathir also spoke about using blogging as a tool for mobilising the mass media to spread the anti-war message.

"It's difficult to compete with the present print media but there is an opportunity for us to make use of blogging in order to build up opinion because we can reach anyone anywhere around the world.

"As you all know we can even transmit moving pictures so it is possible for us to communicate to tell the truth about what's happening," he added.

Click here to watch Mahathir's
press conference (11 mins)