Have you considered working for Bush? He needs A Few Good Liars, and you are certainly establishing your credentials as a liar. However, no matter how many times you or Bush repeat the lie, it won't become true.
<<< Unscom arms inspectors were withdrawn in December 1998 at a sensitive time in US politics, as Bill Clinton faced impeachment over the Monica Lewinsky affair. Clinton launched a 4-day series of strikes, Operation Desert Fox, the day before his impeachment referendum was scheduled, and called them off two hours after the vote. Ritter notes that just prior to the strikes, "Inspectors were sent in to carry out sensitive inspections that had nothing to do with disarmament but had everything to do with provoking the Iraqis." (p.52)
In a report published on the second day of bombing, Ritter was quoted as saying:
"What [head of Unscom] Richard Butler did last week with the inspections was a set-up. This was designed to generate a conflict that would justify a bombing." Ritter said US government sources had told him three weeks earlier that "the two considerations on the horizon were Ramadan and impeachment". Ritter continued:
"If you dig around, you'll find out why Richard Butler yesterday ran to the phone four times. He was talking to his [US] National Security adviser. They were telling him to sharpen the language in his report to justify the bombing." (Quoted, New York Post, 17 December, 1998)
Arguing that Butler deliberately wrote a justification for war, a UN diplomat, described as "generally sympathetic to Washington", said:
"Based on the same facts he [Butler] could have said, There were something like 300 inspections [in recent weeks] and we encountered difficulties in five.'" (Washington Post, 17 December 1998)
Around this time it emerged that CIA spies operating with arms inspectors had used information gathered to target Iraq during Desert Fox. The role of the CIA in corrupting the arms inspection regime was one of the main reasons for Ritter's resignation in 1998.
The basic conclusions are clear: Iraq cooperated in the "fundamental disarmament" of 90-95% of its weapons of mass destruction. The United States nevertheless manufactured a conflict for cynical reasons in December 1998. Inspectors were then not kicked out, as claimed, but were withdrawn by Butler to protect them from bombing. The Iraqis subsequently refused to allow arms inspectors - accurately described by them as "spies" who had participated in the bombing of their country - to return. >>>
zmag.org
Tom |
