MEGADETH's MUSTAINE: DAVID ELLEFSON Has Never Been My Best Friend

In a recent interview with Greece's Metal-Temple.com webzine, MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine spoke about longtime bassist David Ellefson's absence from the group's current lineup. "Everyone thinks that [Ellefson] was my best friend. He's not my best friend, he's never been my best friend. We were close because of business. Dave lied [about] me in the press, he said that my arm injury was fake, went around town and slandered me. We made him a really good offer and he said no. I mean, if I give you an offer and you don't take it, it means no, right? So he said he never said no and I'm thinking, 'Fucking idiot.' So…I don't wanna talk bad about him. He helped me a lot over the years by being a solid member and it was his choice, it's his loss.

Mustaine also offered his views on the war in Iraq and the toppling of Saddam Hussein. "It needed to happen," he said. "The Americans went in there to liberate Iraq. A lot of people don't think they were being liberated because France didn't join in, Germany didn't join in and neither did Russia. The reason they didn't join in was because they had billions of dollars in stake with building the oil fields in the North of Iraq. The reason Russia, Germany and France supported us when we went into Afghanistan was because Afghanistan is a shithole. The people [of Afghanistan] I believe are probably very lovely people — I've never met any Afghanis but, you know, Russia wasn't making billion-dollar oil fields up there. Afghanistan was known for its poppy production, which results in heroin. Afghanistan is renowned for its hashish. If Germany, France and Russia went into Iraq, public opinion would be different.

"People in the music business, in American, are talking bad about Bush…you know what? Shut the fuck up! You're a musician; you don't know a thing about running a country! If there would have been a better man to run the States right now, we would have picked him, it's a democratic process. There are a couple of guys who run for office, everybody picks him, he goes to the next level. Shut up, he's the fucking president! There's gonna be an election, if you don't like him go for the other guy. Don't sit back there and just piss and moan. I see all these guys like Michael Moore going off and I'm like, 'Dude, you don't have a fucking idea about what you're talking about. . . I think that because there's so much bullshit going on with self-advancement in America that people are trying to make what Bush is doing look bad. Now, am I a republican? No. Am I an American? Yeah. Do I consider myself to be patriotic? Yes. Do I think the war with Iraq was wrong? No! Saddam Hussein was a terrorist. He was a dictator and he tortured people."

Read Dave Mustaine's entire interview with Metal-Temple.com at this location.