Bush's War
By Hank Roth
"When Iraq invaded Kuwait it created the opportunity for U.S. action. (The opportunity was not completely fortuitous. The United States had both supported the development of the Iraqi government's strength and give at least tacit encouragement for the invasion of Kuwait.) The subsequent war in the Gulf, which was so successful militarily for the United States, was defined by George Bush as an important step toward a "new world order." ["Why the Emperor Can't Afford New Clothes", Arthur MacEwan - from Monthly Review (1991)] "...in building its policies around the anti-democratic, reactionary regimes in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, the Bush administration has followed the time-honored tradition of U.S. imperialism. However much the administration may profess a support for democracy when its favored dictators are forced from power---as in the Philippines and Haiti, for example--its preference for elitist, authoritarian, but stable regimes int he Middle East is uncompromising. Thus the "new world order" would appear very similar to the world order that prevailed in the post-World War II years." [ibid]
George Bush Covering his Hind-side
Over U.S. objections Afghanistan joined the International Criminal Court. Afghanistan submitted its instrument of ratification at the UN in February (2003). The treaty takes effect May 1st, 2003. Afghanistan becomes the 89th country to join the International Criminal Court. The United States is NOT a signatory. It was but thanks to George W Bush it is NO LONGER bound by the treaty.
"Former U.S. President Bill Clinton signed the Rome treaty establishing the court in 1998, but President George W. Bush rescinded the U.S. signature in May, arguing that the court could lead to highly politicized prosecutions, particularly of American troops." [Edith M. Lederer, Associated Press (02-11-2003)]
The international Criminal Court is a permanent tribunal which prosecutes those who are accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The court intervenes only when a country is unable or lacks the political will to carry out a trial. The 85 nations who have ratified the Rome treaty elected 18 judges who have been sworn in at The Hague.
"The United States has signed bilateral accords with a more than a dozen nations, including Afghanistan, exempting Americans from extradition to the court." [ibid]
George Bush is covering his own ass by distancing himself from the only world body which would have been capable of determining criminality of U.S. actions in Iraq and elsewhere. George Bush can now pursue his "imperialist agenda" against the people of Iraq without the fear of a criminal indictment for crimes against humanity.
No Interest in the Facts
Senator Joseph Biden, who chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committed was accused by Scott Ritter, former chief inspector for UNSCOM of being a "sham hearing" when it was held in August of 2002.
"I believe that Iraq does not pose a threat to the US worthy of war. This conclusion is shared by many senior military officers. According to President Bush and his advisers, Iraq is known to possess weapons of mass destruction and is actively seeking to reconstitute the weapons production capabilities. I bear personal witness, through seven years as a chief weapons inspector in Iraq for the UN, to both the scope of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs and the effectiveness of the UN weapons inspectors in ultimately eliminating them. While we were never able to provide 100 percent certainty regarding the disposition of Iraq's proscribed weaponry, we did ascertain a 90-95 percent level of verified disarmament... It is clear that Senator Biden and his colleagues have no interest in such facts." [Naseer Aruri, "America's War Against Iraq: 1990-2002", from "IRAQ UNDER SEIGE", Anthony Arnove (ed), 2002]
(Undoubtedly some will disparage the statement because of the messenger. Scott Ritter's legal problems are completely separate from the message. His problems, whether real or manufactured do not detract from the efficacy of his accusations...HR)
No Sanctions!
The former UN Assistant Secretary General, Hans von Sponeck, who also headed the UN "oil-for-food" program for a period after Denis Hiliday's resignation from that post in protest to the time he also resigned in 2002 (July) in protest to the sanctions. He visited Iraqi installations which were purported to be weapons sites and found those sites to be both "defunct and destroyed."
His statement opposing sanctions to the Institute for Public Accuracy on July 29, 2002:
"Evidence of al-Qaeda/Iraq collaboration does not exist... Six years of revisions to sanctions policy on Baghdad have repeatedly promised `mitigation' of civilian suffering. Yet, in 1999, Unicef confirmed an estimated 5,000 excess child deaths every month above 1989 pre-sanctions rate. Four months ago, Unicef reported that more than 22 percent of the country's young children remain chronically malnourished. Credible opposition groups outside Iraq have called for delinking economic and military sanctions. At the March Arab summit in Beirut, all 22 Arab governments (including Kuwait) called for the same. If the economic embargo on Iraq is not in their interest, then in whose interest is it?"
http://www.accuracy.org/
Sanctions and continued war against Iraq has nothing to do with terrorism or al-Qaeda. The present government of the United States being led by right wing (chicken) hawks, many of whom never served in the military and George Bush who was in the National Air Guard didn't even show up for duty (a crime if anyone else did it) and this is the most go-to-war administration and congress in the history of the United States. If life was dangerous under Reagan, it is far more so today when technology provides greater capability for death and destruction. The United States is not a peaceful nation. The president is incompetent, arrogant, conservative and insensitive to the suffering of those who are subjected to his policies.
If there ever was a need for a peace movement it is now.
Iraqis Armed by Saddam
If Saddam was afraid of the Iraqi people or the Iraqi people were not supporting Saddam Hussein, this government would hardly dare to arm them. But truth is often the first casualty of war and the imperialist agenda and the George Bush administration has no interest in telling the truth to the American people.
"MOSUL, Iraq, Feb. 4 -- Semira Ahmed, a schoolteacher, keeps her battered AK-47 assault rifle in her bedroom closet, next to her dresses, shoes, jewelry and cosmetics. Abbas Mahmood, a shopkeeper, displays his in the living room, on a shelf with pictures of his children. Mohammed Abdullah, a farmer, totes his wherever he goes, because he wants to be ready `to fight at any time.'" [Rajiv Chandrasekaran - "Iraq Arms Civilians As Second Line of Defense Against U.S." - Washington Post Foreign Service (February 5, 2003)]
"Over the past two years, Hussein's government says it has trained 1 million civilians in the basics of armed combat and given many of them firearms to keep at home. With Iraq now facing a possible U.S. military invasion, Iraqi leaders are encouraging -- and counting on -- those people to act as a last line of defense in cities and towns across the country." [ibid]
ALL OIL is the property of the United States
In a speech to the Royal United Services Institute in London, in October foreign office minister Peter Hain"notes that the cost of protecting the Middle East's oil reserves, paid for mostly by the US and without which the west would grind to a halt, is as high as $25 (£16) a barrel - about the same as it costs to buy. Mr Hain, seen as an outrider for Blairite thinking, goes on to warn that no amount of money will guarantee petrol supplies to the west and consumers should be weaning themselves off the black stuff." [Randeep Ramesh, "Blood and Oil" - (October 17, 2002) The Guardian]
"At present the world remains so dependent on oil for transport, it cannot stand any disruption in supplies. Remember the chaos and gridlock that the fuel protests brought to Britain? Tony Blair does and now recognizes the explosive nature of rising petrol prices." [Ramesh]
"America's addiction to oil is difficult for Europeans to stomach. It is not just the consumption - a US citizen consumes 2.5 times the oil required by a British one - but the differing cultural and political beliefs of two continents. For example, green parties hold power in several nations, notably Germany, whereas Mr Bush's administration prides itself on being drawn from the oil industry. The EU has already committed itself to seeing 12% of all energy by 2010 coming from low-carbon, renewable sources in a bid to prevent climate change. Although the US Congress is considering a proposal to require utilities to supply 10% of power from renewables, the White House is suspicious of the theory of global warming and refuses to sign up to international treaties on climate change." [Ramesh]
Another Bush to Benefit from War
William H.T. ("Bucky") Bush, an uncle of George W. Bush, is on the board of directors of a company which will benefit substantially from war with Iraq, according to financial analysts.....The company, Engineered Support Systems, is based in St. Louis. William H.T. Bush was also a major Bush donor and campaign fund-raiser.
What does Engineered Support Systems make? It makes biological and chemical filtering and decontamination equipment, among other things. The company also acquired Radian subsidiary, which designs security systems for the Pentagon.
SOURCE: http://www.populist.com/03.03.burns.html
"EXPENDABLE CIVILIANS"
The George Bush gang of warmongers has pulled out all the stops to convince the world that war is justified and is still being thwarted by truth and Iraq itself. Just when the U.S. was hoping for complete non-compliance from Iraq they agree to U2 overflights, including French, and Russian surveillance aircraft.
The U.S. attempted to discredit Iraqi cooperation, just as they tried to discredit the UN inspectors. The U.S. buildup will be in position and prepared to attack Iraq in a matter of days and each day delayed makes it more difficult to maintain that level of forces deployed and prepared.
"The Bush administration responded almost immediately by calling the Iraqi concessions a tactical gesture designed to divide the U.N. Security Council and weaken its resolve to compel Baghdad to disarm." ["Iraq OKs overflights in search for arms" - (02-11-2003) - The Record (Bergen County, NJ)]
"President Bush stepped up his rhetorical campaign against Saddam Hussein on Monday with accusations that the Iraqi leader would use civilians to shield his troops. Denouncing Hussein as the true enemy of Iraq's people, Bush accused him of regarding civilians as `human shields, entirely expendable when their suffering serves his purpose.'" [ibid]
Several peace groups have volunteered to go to Iraq to act as human shields to try to stop an invasion. I don't expect George Bush will be listening to them anymore than he listens to the anti-war protestors.
70% of the smart bombs in the last Gulf War missed their target many of them killing a whole civilians.
Domestic Security Act
Just when you thought the assault on civil rights might be over, think again; the USA Patriot Act was only the beginning. For those who need a reminder what this law does:
[Quote from Jessica King, Northern Star (University Wire) - 02-11-2003]
[QUOTE]
- It allowed for spying on the Web surfing of innocent citizens. - It expanded the definition of terrorism to include domestic terrorism that could be applied to legitimate protesting. - It allowed the FBI or CIA to use roving wiretaps on phones or computers without having to justify their use on a particular line. Innocent citizens can be spied upon without cause. - It allowed for the collection of DNA samples from convicted terrorists and for those convicted of "any crime of violence." - It sanctioned the blanket surveillance of library records and private business records.
These are only a few key points of the bill, and if those aren't scary enough, more may be heading our way soon.
[END QUOTE]
Fascism starts in stages. It is introduced slowly enough to become fact before many people know what has happened to them. It is a right wing conspiracy and it is George Bush's "New World Order." Now here is what is coming your way - as if the above wasn't enough: The new law is called Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003:
[QUOTE - from Northern Star]
- It would end all state law enforcement consent decrees before Sept. 11, 2001, that limit such agencies from gathering information about individuals and organizations because limitations could interfere with current terrorism investigations. Decrees related to racial profiling or other civil rights violations would be exempt.
- It would allow the creation of a new DNA database on suspected terrorists, defined to include association with suspected terrorist groups and non-citizens suspected of certain crimes, or of having supported any group designated as terrorist.
- It would introduce new limits on the Environmental Protection Agency to educate residents living near private companies that use dangerous chemicals.
- It would allow for the unwilling deportation of American citizens involved with organizations branded as terrorist.
- It would permit without bail the imprisoning of suspected terrorists, even American citizens, before trial.
- This is a massive list. Of course, no one wants a repeat of the Sept. 11 attacks, but in trying to prevent it, new attacks are being perpetrated.
We cannot -- should not -- passively allow these attacks on freedom by the American government. Too much is at stake. The old saying rings true: Absolute power leads to absolute corruption.
If you care about your freedoms and basic rights, take action. Not to sound trite, but call your congressmen in Washington, D.C., before it's too late. What happens when federal agents come knocking on your door?
[END QUOTE]
Legal Rights
Bush refused to provide civil legal rights to Americans who the government decides are enemies of the state in George Bush's "war on terrorism". The American Bar Association condemns the government's refusal to provide rights to "American enemy combatants" and also wants the government to be more open about domestic government surveillance.
BUT, the government will not even release the names of those Americans who are being held as enemy combatants. Only a few are known but many others are being held incommunicado. Many in the ABA say these detentions are illegal but what can anyone do if the names are not even known?
The most high profile is Jose Padilla, accused of plotting to detonate a "dirty" bomb, which would use a conventional explosive to spread radioactive material. [Gina Holland, "ABA May Oppose U.S. on Enemy Combatants" - (02-10-2003) - AP
An "enemy" combatant is a TYPE of WARTIME PRISONER who is held without charges or trial - and NOT ALLOWED TO SEE LAWYERS.
"Miami lawyer Neal Sonnett said it is un-American to deny legal rights to Americans or anyone else in the country when they are apprehended." [ibid]
Individual rights have been denied to Americans and they have been denied to those prisoners being held in Camp X-ray also. This war on terror is a war on individual rights of decency and humanity. Congress gave the president unlimited power in his crusade after the September 11th (2001) attacks on the U.S. It doesn't take much to lose what we took for granted. More of the same is coming. Oversight is something we expected under the American system of law. Wiretapping, searches and incarceration all required clearly established rules of law. Those rules have all be changed since George W Bush become the imperial president.
[See: American Bar Association: http://www.abanet.org/]
Who has NUCLEAR weapons of mass destruction?
Iraqis are cooperating with the weapons inspectors. They are even allowing journalists to conduct their own inspections of the various sites.
"`We don't have any of these weapons now, and we have no intention of acquiring any in the future,' Maj-Gen. Hussam Mohammed Amin, the head of Iraq's National Monitoring Directorate, told Maclean's in Baghdad. `If the U.S. allows the minimum of fairness and demonstrates the minimum of courage, then they will accept this report as proof of Iraq's disarmament.'" ["Scott Taylor, "LONGING FOR PEACE ..." - (12-23-2002) - Maclean's]
".... U.S. and British jets have stepped up their attacks in the no-fly zones in the north and south of Iraq and have repeatedly mounted attacks against Iraqi radar installations. If the Americans do invade, Noori (and Iraqi cab driver) is prepared to die. `We fight for Allah and President Saddam,' he says. `If it is Allah's wish that I should die fighting, I only hope that I get to see an American first.'" [ibid]
When the war between Iraq and Iran erupted the Soviet Union which had been Iraq's biggest supplier of weapons stopped supplying arms and the U.S. sensed an opening.
"Alexander Haig told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that he saw the possibility of improved ties with Baghdad and approvingly noted that Iraq was concerned by "the behavior of Soviet imperialism in the Middle Eastern area." (That was opening the door for the Americans to come in) [Stephen Rosskamm Shalom, "Imperial Alibis" South End Press, 1993]
"The United States then approved the sale to Iraq of five Boeing jetliners, and sent a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State to Baghdad for talks. In early 1982, CIA director William Casey traveled to Baghdad to meet secretly with Saddam Hussein. On his return, Reagan signed a National Security directive authorizing support for Iraq. On February 26, 1982, Iraq was REMOVED from the State Department's notoriously selective list fo countries supporting international terrorism, despite the fact that U.S. officials knew that Saddam's support for terrorism had not weakened." [ibid]
"With Baghdad OFF THE TERRORISM LIST, the United States began extending agricultural credits as well. The United States also started secretly passing Iraq highly classified intelligence: satellite imagery, communications intercepts, the CIA assessments that could pinpoint Iranian weaknesses." [ibid]
In 1984 Washington and Baghdad officially restored diplomatic relations. Then Vice President George Bush Senior even went so far as to persistently lobby for billions of dollars in loan guarantees for the Iraqis over the objections of the U.S. Export-Import Bank.
Iraq does not have any nuclear weapons of mass destruction, but the U.S. has many of them and Iran has them.
"Even before the final Soviet breakup, and while Tehran was beginning its talks with Beijing, Iranian intelligence operative were scouring Soviet Central Asia for weapons, technologies, and nuclear material, in search of a shortcut to operational nuclear capabilities. In summer of 1991, one of these operative was offered access to nuclear weapons in Kazakhstan. Tehran dispatched a delegation of senior officials, including U.S. - educated physicists, who returned convinced that the offer was genuine. In early September, the Iranian delegation returned to Kazakhstan to renew negotiations. Their Kazakh interlocutor told them he was speaking for a group of about twenty-five security,scientific, and government officials who were willing to obtain the `atomic bombs' for Iran. The weapons would come in separate pieces from different sites throughout Central Asia, but the group would assemble these pieces into operational weapons. At the same time, the Iranians and their allies initiated a comprehensive effort to acquire delivery capabilities--both ballistic missiles and strike aircraft." [Yossef Bodansky, "The High Cost of Peace", 2002] "These developments booted Tehran's confidence in its ability to implement its grand strategic design. As Hashemi-Rafsanjani would put it later in the year, it had fallen to Iran to acquire nuclear weapons for the entire region, if only because the Arabs had proved incapable of doing so. Such weapons would be the key to a rejuvenated and vibrant Islamic unity. With them, Hashemi-Rafsanjani concluded, it would be possible to eliminate the Western presence in the Middle East and liberate Jerusalem. The Syrain chief of staff, General Hikmat al-Shihabi, echoed this theme during a visit to Tehran to discuss the two countries' defense policy. Shihabi stressed that Syria was going to the peace conference in Madrid not to make peace with Israel, but rather `to ensure the rights of the Palestinians and return of all the occupied territories.'" [ibid]
Iran's Nuclear Weapons
"In December, the Kazakh deal came to fruition, and Iran made ITS FIRST PURCHASE OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS. The deal included two 40-kiloton warheads for a SCUD-type surface-to-surface ballistic missile; one aerial bomb of the type carried by a MiG-27; and one 152-mm nuclear artillery shell. These weapons reached initial operation status in late January 1992 and full operational status a few months later." [ibid]
Iraq is the least dangerous of these three countries. Syria and Iran have an alliance. Both harbor Islamic elements which are extremely anti-American and anti-British and they both through IRAN have nuclear weapons and capability to use them. Iraq does not..
To take on Iran George Bush would have to consider it a real war, not the turkey shoot they called that war in 90-91 with a very different probably outcome. To take on North Korea would also be devastating for South Korea and any countries North Korea's missiles are capable of reaching. To take on Iraq would be much more predictable with vast oil resources as the prize but only for the short term.
NEW WORLD Odor:
It stinks!
"If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator." - GW Bush 12/18/2000.
The world has undergone a tremendous transformation since the fall of Communism and the Soviet Union. America now stands unopposed as the world's super power. It can do with impunity what it once considered a risk because of the Soviets. The fundamental change in the world is a shift to the right. We were all waiting for the `peace dividend' which never came. Instead we got this New World Order. We got a war with George Bush senior and now we have another war looming on the horizon with George Bush junor.
"There is a difference between George Bush senior and his son. The father had a little bit of understanding (not too much) whereas George Bush junior has nothing but a blank space between his ears!" [Alan Woods, "Europe, America and imperialism" at Rosa Luxemburg conference - Humboldt University of Berlin (January 11, 2003)]
"Ten years later we stand on the brink of yet another war in the Gulf, which will have the most serious repercussions for the whole world. The so-called New World Order stands exposed as a New World Disorder. Globalisation manifests itself as a global crisis of capitalism. That is the real balance sheet of the world ten years after the collapse of the USSR." [Woods]
"Wherever you look now there is the most colossal instability: economic, political, social and military instability. It is the most characteristic feature of the world situation at the present time." [Woods]
There is no war yet, but there is no peace either. The economy is in the toilet. Personal stress levels are higher than they have been since Ronald Reagan was president.
And Iraqis are dying from sanctions and U.S. and British bombing in the No-Fly zone.
"Madeleine Albrights said:
"We think the price is worth it" when she was asked about the deaths of 500,000 Iraqi children as a result of the sanctions.
Many do benefit from war. Those who stand to gain the most are those in the oil and weapons of mass destruction business.
Halliburton will benefit from a war with Iraq. Vice President Dick Chaney was the CIO.
"The Halliburton Company, the Dallas oil services company bedeviled lately by an array of accounting and business issues, is benefiting very directly from the United States efforts to combat terrorism....From building cells for detainees at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba to feeding American troops in Uzbekistan, the Pentagon is increasingly relying on a unit of Halliburton called KBR, sometimes referred to as Kellogg Brown and Root." [Jeff Gerth and Don Van Natta, Jr, "In Tough Times, a Company Finds Profits in Terror War" - (July 13, 2002)]
"Although the unit has been building projects all over the world for the federal government for decades, the attacks of Sept. 11 have led to significant additional business. KBR is the exclusive logistics supplier for both the Navy and the Army, providing services like cooking, construction, power generation and fuel transportation. The contract recently won from the Army is for 10 years and has no lid on costs, the only logistical arrangement by the Army without an estimated cost." [ibid]
"The Army contract is a cost-plus arrangement and shrouded in secrecy. The contractor is reimbursed for its allowable costs and gets a bonus based on performance. In the past, KBR has usually received the maximum performance bonus, according to Pentagon officials. Though modest now, the Army contract could produce hundreds of millions of dollars for the company. In the Balkans, for instance, its contract with the Army started at less than $4 million and turned into a multibillion-dollar agreement." [ibid]
Not surprisingly, the profits for KBR are over the top; and an understatatement to call costs to the U.S. excessive. As an example, KBR collected about $750,000 for electrical repairs at a California military base ---- that cost only about $125,000, (according to Mr. McIntosh, agent with the Defense Criminal Investigative Service)
Tony Blair
Liar or Just Ignorant?
When I heard a recent press conference by Tony Blair, I thought, here is a man who is either very ignorant or he is a liar. I think it is probably a combination of both because I don't think many politicians really know what is going on - and even when they do they simply dismiss truth if it differs from their imperialistic agenda. For them, the ENDS ALWAYS JUSTIFIES THE MEANS.
Tony Blair blamed Saddam Hussein for everything bad that has happened to the Iraqi people. He actually said poverty and death from hunger is Saddam Hussein's fault and not the fault of the sanctions. Culpability for the death of millions of people who were denied clean water belongs to the allies and not to Saddam Hussein. And Tony Blair is culpable of crimes against humanity for imposing these sanctions along with anyone else who goes along with this travesty of justice and criminal behavior.
The missile attacks on electrical generating plants, sewage treatment plants, water purification plants and agricultural irrigation systems can be equated to biological weapons of mass destruction. 70 percent of the smart bombs used during the first Gulf War missed their targets and destroyed the infrastructure of Iraq and these so-called "Smart Bombs" killed civilians. This combined with the sanctions against life saving chemicals, like chorine has caused the further death of tens of thousands of Iraqis.
In an interview with Phyllis Bennis (a fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, D.C. and an author and journalist who has written about UN and Middle East issues for about twenty years) for Alternative Radio (with David Barsamian), she says:
"The result (of Iraq's destroyed infrastructure) has been absolute devastation for the civilian population at enormous cost in the future to be repaired........The inability of Iraq to make repairs means the continuation of malnutrition. The largest number of casualties today are the result of dirty contaminated water caused by inadequate sewage-treatment and water treatment facilities. What that means is that children are dying in Iraq of eminently treatable diseases: simple diarrhea, typhoid, and other contaminated-water-borne disease, in a country whose advanced health-care system was so developed before the sanctions regime and before the bombings that the most important problem faced by Iraqi pediatricians was childhood obesity. We have devastated this country, so its leve of childhood mortality is now worse than that of Sudan." [Phiilis Bennis - reference: Barton Gellman, "UNSOM Losing Role in Iraqi Arms Drama - Washington Post, January 28, 1999]
Sanctions are Genocidal
Denis Halliday, a former assistant secretary-general of the United Nations, worked as a UN humanitarian co-ordinator in Iraq who resigned from that position in 1998 in protest of the sanctions which he called "GENOCIDAL".
Also interviewed by David Barsamian for Alternative Radio, Denis Halliday said this about the politicized "oil-for-food" program which Tony Blair falsely implied put the onus on Saddam Hussein to feed his people:
"Firstly, oil-for-food was never intended to resolve the humanitarian crisis. It was designed to stop further deterioration. It was designed to build on what the Iraqi government was already doing and is still doing. They have a separate food-distribution program for those on fixed incomes, orphans, war widows, and others, which has continued throughout. The politicization is seen most conspicuously in workings of the sanctions committee of the UN Security Council in New York, which is second guessing the contractors and the content and cost of supplies that the Iraqi government seeks with the approval of the World Food Program, Unicef, the World Health Organization, or the Food and Agriculture Oraganization in almost every case....These are not just out of thin air. The young bureaucrats who sit on this committee in New York are not technical people In fact, they don't want technical advice. They tend in the case of the UK and the US to send this material to their headquarters, where they are further politicized and second-guessed in order to HOLD BACK ANY AREA OF POTENTIAL DUAL USAGE, any area where they feel there is a risk factor. So, for example, when the Iraqis asked for 500 ambulances, approved by the World Health Organization AS MINIMAL UNDER THE CIRCUMSTANCES, THESE WERE INITIALLY BLOCKED IN THEIR ENTIRETY and then slowly, over a period of six to nine months were released--100, 200 ambulances-- really picayunish stuff, inexcusable. Likewise throughout the medical drug area--medical equipment for hospitals and clinics, refrigeration--and even in education--paper, books, pencils. This is unreal."
Denis Halliday also stated what has been said before but is largely ignored in the debate over why Iraq continues to distrust the UN, that UNSCOM inspectors were actually working for their respective countries and with regard to the US and Britain worked for military intelligence and other intelligence agencies and had been for years collecting information; actually spying, and laying out targets for future military strikes - so when Butler ordered UNSCOM inspectors out of Iraq, the US and Britain hit those critical buildings and infrastructure essential for the well-being of the Iraqi people. No wonder the Iraqis do not trust UN inspectors. Halliday said, "We've now seen Washington admit that (spying)." [See Colum Lynch, "US Used UN to Spy on Iraq, Aides Say," Boston Globe, January 6, 1999; and Barton Gellman, "US Spied on Iraqi Military Via UN", Washington Post, 1999]
AND what is largely ignored by those pushing for war that whatever was left, that was not destroyed by UNSCOM on the ground was bombed and destroyed after the weapons inspectors from UNSCOM left Iraq. The "significant aspects of the weapons programs" in Iraq were "found and destroyed", as witnessed by former weapons inspectors.
The war George Bush wants with Iraq actually never ended. Sanctions and bombings have been carried out relentlessly for 12 years. John Pilger says the "secret" war on Iraq has seen "a 300 percent increase in bombing raids".
John Pilger ( http://www.johnpilger.com/) writes,
"The war never ended in 1991, the bombing has continued unrelenting since then and has escalated dramatically in the last 4 years. It is now deemed the longest Anglo-American campaign of aerial bombardment since World War Two." [Pilger]
"THE American and British attack on Iraq has already begun. While the Blair government continues to claim in Parliament that "no final decision has been taken", Royal Air Force and US fighter bombers have secretly changed tactics and escalated their "patrols" over Iraq to an all-out assault on both military and civilian targets." [ibid] "Under the United Nations Charter and the conventions of war and international law, the attacks amount to acts of piracy: no different, in principle, from the German Luftwaffe's bombing in Spain in the 1930s as precursor to its invasion of Europe." [ibid]
"The bombing is a "secret war" that has seldom been news. Since 1991, and especially in the last four years, it has been unrelenting and is now deemed the longest Anglo-American campaign of aerial bombardment since World War Two." [ibid]
"The US and British governments justify it by claiming they have a UN mandate to police so-called "no-fly zones" which they declared following the Gulf War. They say these "zones", which give them control of most of Iraq's airspace, are legal and supported by UN Security Council Resolution 688." [ibid]
"This is false. There are no references to no fly zones in any Security Council resolution. To be sure about this, I asked Dr Boutros Boutros-Ghali, who was Secretary General of the United Nations in 1992 when Resolution 688 was passed. "The issue of no fly zones was not raised and therefore not debated: not a word," he said. `They offer no legitimacy to countries sending their aircraft to attack Iraq.'" [ibid]
George Bush and Tony Blair will most likely have their immoral war with Iraq which will result in more death and destruction for the Iraqi people. The excuses and the claims by George Bush and Tony Blair are lies. The US and Britain have been waging their own biological warfare with the bombing and the sanctions. The sanctions - which denies Iraqis much needed medicines and clean water are "weapons of mass destruction" and if the UN really cared about justice it would end them. The children and old people don't deserve to suffer anymore. They are not the threat George Bush and Tony Blair says they are. The real threat to the world is from their "imperialist agenda."
Hank Roth - (TheGolem)
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Posted on February 26,th, 2003 The commentary here is CopyLeft and may be freely reproduced with proper attribution.
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