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Democracy Now! | His Holiness The Dalai Lama Speaks Out On U.S. Foreign Policy, Against the Invasion of Iraq and 9/11AMY GOODMAN: the Dalai Lama speaking in New York this week about September 11th, about the invasion of Iraq, about the issue of freedom of speech. He also talked about Saddam Hussein and how it was important to understand how Saddam Hussein came to power and maintained that power. This is the Dalai Lama:
DALAI LAMA: It is unfair to blame everything on Saddam Hussein. Saddam Hussein without this powerful army he can't be dictator. Without military sophisticated weapons it's impossible to build a powerful army. So, these weapons are not produced there, but come from the West. And one time when the Lebanon Civil War was going on, I met one French lady. She told me in one city, one site people, innocent people killing. One site some business making business selling weapons, bullets. If you truly analyze how this dictatorship developed, from many causes, many conditions, including western nations’ own contribution. So that's my view. Since it's such a complex, it is easy to eliminate one person or small group of people, but unless very sort of carried that message realistically without emotion possibly more compassionate, more wisdom, eliminate ten people it creates hundred people. Hundred people eliminate thousand people. This would go.
So the real method is personal contact, person to person, face to face. Talk. At that time I also expressed Bin Laden also have lot of reasons to complain. Listen to his view. What's his complaint. Terrorism is a sort of mutual suffering. They’ve also suffered. Therefore, lead, listen, talk, and try to find way to solve that which is causing their complaint. That's the humane way. Therefore, after the Iraq war started, and before the war started some people from Europe also America asked me, should go to Baghdad and do something. And I thought, a Muslim capital -- a Buddhist monk go there? I don't know.
(Laughs)
Ok, think there were two reasons that event with him and Rev. Sharpton didn't get much press. He's saying the wrong things too.
None of that seems terribly controversial to me, but I also can't imagine the ideas being expressed in the mainstream media. One of the reasons I've been avoiding it for a while. And unfortunately (for me), Democracy Now! doesn't seem to be available on the air here in Chi.
Actually, now that I've checked, NIU's station broadcasts DN! and Pacifica News. Wonder if I can get that here. . .