Western ”arrogance” and ”greed” played a role in instigating the September 11 terrorist attacks on the US, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien said in television documentary aired on Thursday.
The western world ”is getting too rich in relation to the poor world,” Chretien said. ”It is looked upon as being arrogant, self-satisfied, greedy and with no limits.
”The 11th of September is an occasion for me to realise it even more,” the premier said in the documentary filmed by Canadian Broadcast Company public television in July, portions of which were aired on the CBC Internet site.
Chretien said he had implored the titans of Wall Street over the past year against exercising their financial power at the expense of poor nations.
”When you’re powerful like you are, you guys, this is the time to be nice,” he said.
Chretien also revealed he had given the green light to US warplanes to enter Canadian airspace to shoot down a suspect South Korean airliner if necessary because Canadian planes were too far away.
The airliner, which had erroneously broadcast a highjack signal, was finally escorted by a US jet fighter to Whitehorse in the Yukon territory of the Canadian northwest, where the error was discovered.
”I would have been responsible for killing 300 people,” said Chretien, not specifying when the incident had occurred. – Sapa-AFP