Index for the Case against Saddam Hussein,
INTRODUCTION
ON VALENTINE’S DAY in 1998, Robin Cook – then Britain’s Foreign Secretary – came out with a new position on Iraq. “Doing nothing, he said, “is not an option.” It was, nonetheless, an option which both Britain and the US proceeded to take.
February 1998 was the turning point in US-Iraq relations. In Washington, the US House of Representatives decided that the policy of containing Saddam Hussein through United Nations sanctions is not working, and started preparing for unilateral military action. This started the path to a second Gulf War. ...
Message 17966092
IRAQ’S NUCLEAR PROGRAMME
“Saddam is doing everything he can do without special [nuclear] material, and [he is] betting on acquiring the material outside Iraq. There are places they can go and find it on sale. And when that happens, they’ll be able to surprise the world with a finished weapon” – David Kay, leader of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s inspection missions to Iraq (Quoted in The Record (Bergen County, New Jersey), 4 August 2002).
Iraq now has all the elements of a workable nuclear weapon, except the fissile material needed to fuel it, according to defectors. With Iraq’s trade links now reopening, and 7,000 nuclear engineers employed, it is feared that this final stage will not take for long.
Before UN inspectors left Iraq, the following had been ascertained:- ...
Message 17966093
IRAQ’S BIOLOGICAL & CHEMICAL WEAPONS
“Iraq is still building and expanding an infrastructure capable of producing weapons of mass destruction. Baghdad is expanding its civilian chemical industry in a way that could be quickly diverted into chemical weapon production.” - George Tenet, CIA director, Feb 2002
Iraq’s skill at hiding its weapons factories is demonstrated by the fact that the United Nations took four years of inspections to find out about its biological programme. Its scope is immense, UNSCOM found evidence of 38,500 chemical and biological munitions and ...
Message 17966094
Iraq’s development of chemical and biological weapons
May 1988 Starts research on aflatoxin at a laboratory in al Salman. Its method was to grow fungus aspergilus in 5.3 quart flasks (The Center for Strategic and International Studies, “If We Fight Iraq: Iraq and its weapons of mass destruction,” revised 28 June 2002) .
Nov 1989 Develops 16 R-400 Aflatoxin bombs, and conducts trials in 122mm rockets.
April 1991 Iraq tells UN that it has never had any biological materials, weapons, research or
facilities.
Jan 1991 Tests run on crop spraying helicopters, to test their suitability for spraying ...
Message 17966095
IRAQ’S BALLISTIC MISSILES
Iraq started purchasing Soviet Scud missiles in the 1970s. They have a range of 300km but Iraq succeeded in doubling this to 600km when it developed the al-Hussein missile. These, as the Gulf War demonstrated, can reach Tel Aviv.
UN Security Council resolution 687 required Iraq to destroy all missiles with a range greater than 150km, but left it free to develop missiles whose range falls within its circumference. Washington and London believe this is a loophole which has allowed Saddam to develop his own missile production skills.
Since the UN weapons left in December 1998, the following remain unaccounted for and are understood to be still in Iraq:- ...
Message 17966096
IRAQ’s USE OF WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION & WAR RECORD
Sept 1980 Iraq invaded Iran, starting an eight-year war where it deployed chemical weapons against Iranian troops and ballistic missiles against Iranian cities.
Feb 1988 Iraq forcibly relocated Kurdish refugees from their home villages in the Anfal campaign, killing between 500,000 and 180,000 Kurds
Mar 1988 Iraq used chemical weapons against Iraqi Kurdish rebels in Halabja, killing an estimated 5,000 Kurds and causing numerous birth defects which affect the town today.
Aug 1990 Iraq began a seven-month occupation of Kuwait, killing and committing numerous abuses against Kuwaiti civilians, some 620 of whom remain unaccounted for.
Apr 1993 Iraq orchestrated a failed attempt to assassinate President George Bush during his visit to Kuwait,
July 2002 Kofi Annan says that Iraq has now promised to return Kuwaiti state documents and archives. It had admitted to having impounded ...
Message 17966097
IRAQ’S SUPPORT FOR TERRORISM
Iraq is formally listed as one of the US’s state sponsors of terrorism. However, neither the FBI or the CIA have been able to link Saddam or any Iraqi to the events of 11 September. Attempts to draw a link between the two have produced the following results ...
Message 17966098
BREAKING FREE FROM THE SHACKLES: IRAQ’S TRADE RECOVERY
The UN policy of containment was dependent on Iraq having its economic power curtailed by sanctions. However, this framework is rapidly disintegrating as other countries show increasing sympathy towards Iraq.
In May 2002, the US General Accounting Office said that, in 2001, Iraq earned $2.2 billion in illicit trade, $1.5billion of it through illicit exports and $700 million in surcharges. In September 2002, Tony Blair said this may be closer to $3.0 billion (Answering questions in a press conference in his Sedgefield constituency, 3 Sept 2002. The Prime Minister said at the time the figure came from memory, and ...
Message 17966099
THE LEGALITIES OF UNILATERAL MILITARY ACTION
The US believes that Iraq is in violation of its ceasefire agreements, and is now vulnerable to the same military attack authorised in 1990.
Internal US law
On 3 Feb 1998, when Clinton officials, preparing for what was to become Desert Fox, said the authority from military action was drawn from the joint resolution passed by Congress on the eve of the Gulf War. This resolution, named PL102-1, has no expiry date. It was argued that, as far as the Congress is concerned, this provides US administration with the authority to use force against Iraq.
United Nations law
The US also argues that any future attack on Iraq will be legal under international law, under the following UN Resolutions: ...
Message 17966100
EVENTS IN THE CURRENT CRISIS
3 Mar 1991 Ceasefire agreed on Persian Gulf War, or Operation Desert Storm
3 Apr 1991 UN passes Resolution 687, ordering the destruction of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction
17 Jun 1993 UN issues its last finding of “material breach” against Iraq.
20 Mar 1996 UNSCOM reports Iraqi resistance, violating the “unfettered access” agreement.
23 Oct 1997 After more than a year of Iraqi interference, the UN suspends sanctions reviews until April 98.
29 Oct 1997 Iraq bans Americans in UNSCOM from making ...
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