PUTRAJAYA, March 18: The deadly bombings in Madrid proved that US President George Bush had made the world a more dangerous place, former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Thursday.

Mr Bush had "a closed mind" and refused to heed warnings that invading Iraq would lead to an increase in terrorism, the outspoken Southeast Asian elder statesman said in an interview.

"He wants to do something and he doesn't care about what others say. It's quite obvious lots of people were against the invasion of Iraq, but he just ignored all this."

Mr Mahathir, who led this mainly Muslim nation for 22 years before retiring in October, rarely pulled his punches, but this personal criticism of Mr Bush went further than it did while he was constrained by his office.

He said he had written to Mr Bush before the invasion of Iraq to warn that it would encourage terrorism rather than reduce it. Asked whether the attacks in Madrid had proved him right, he said: "I think so.

"That's what I told President Mr Bush, it's the wrong move in the fight against terrorism to invade Iraq - but what is my voice?" he asked with a shrug belying the fact that he had become a major spokesman for the Muslim world after the Sept 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.

Because of Mr Bush's tactics in the face of terrorism the world "is now a more dangerous place," he said, adding: "I feel some leaders do not understand at all that the fight against terrorism is different from normal war.

"Terrorists have their grouse, what they think are legitimate causes, and they will continue to do what they can. If you hem them in in one place they will pop up in another place."

Mr Mahathir, who was embroiled in controversy last year after saying that Jews rule the world by proxy, said the conflict was not about religion but about territory, and that Israel was central to the problem.

Asked whether he would trace a path from Israel to the Madrid bombings, he replied: "Yes, I would." "The present spate of terrorism traces back to that moment when Israel was born. The fact that Palestine was taken away from the Palestinians and given to the Jews and they (the Palestinians) were expelled after that, that is the problem."

The issue had expanded beyond the borders of the Middle East because of the support given by the West to Israel, he said.

NUCLEAR SCANDAL: Mr Mahathir backed a police probe clearing the son of Prime Minister Badawi in a nuclear black market affair and predicted the issue would not overshadow coming polls.