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=A9 2002 Independent Digital (UK) = Ltd

18=20 September 2002 09:35 BDST

Home = > Argument = > Commentators =

Robert Fisk: President Bush wants war, not justice - and = he'll=20 soon find another excuse for it

Saddam Hussein's own cynicism - for he could have given = UN=20 inspectors free rein years ago - will be matched by Mr = Bush's

18 September 2002

Internal links

UN=20 split over Iraqi weapons offer

Saddam=20 again shows ability to throw sand in face of the UN

Arab=20 countries welcome Iraq's 'positive step'

Yemeni=20 'linked to Pearl killing' suspect

Inspectors=20 face a daunting task if they are allowed in

'Sooner=20 or later we're going to be attacked'

US=20 builds up forces for winter campaign

Leading=20 article: Saddam's offer should be accepted

Robert=20 Fisk: President Bush wants war, not justice

Michael=20 Brown: Now even the Tories want to give peace a = chance

You've got to hand it to Saddam. In one brisk, neat = letter to=20 Kofi Annan, he pulled the rug from right under George Bush's = feet.=20 There was the American president last week, playing the role = of=20 multilateralist, warning the world that Iraq had one last = chance =96=20 through the UN =96 to avoid Armageddon. "If the Iraqi regime = wishes=20 peace," he told us all in the General Assembly, "it will = immediately=20 and unconditionally forswear, disclose and remove or destroy = all=20 weapons of mass destruction, long-range missiles and all = related=20 material." And that, of course, is the point. Saddam would = do=20 everything he could to avoid war. President Bush was doing=20 everything he could to avoid peace. And now the Iraqi regime = has put=20 the Americans into a corner. The arms inspectors are welcome = back in=20 Iraq. No conditions. Just as the Americans asked.

No wonder the United States was whingeing on about "false = hopes"=20 yesterday. No wonder the Americans were searching = desperately for=20 another casus belli =96 be sure that they will find = one =96 in an=20 attempt to make sure that their next war keeps to its = timetable. Be=20 sure, too, that Saddam, that master of the post-agreement=20 conditional clause, will have a few surprises for the UN = inspectors=20 when they do turn up in Baghdad. Will the UN boys be allowed = to=20 visit the Beast of Baghdad's palaces? Will they be waved = through all=20 checkpoints when they want to visit Tuwaitha or any of the = other=20 horror factories in which the Iraqis once cooked up their = biological=20 weapons?

But for now, the Americans have been sandbagged. It will = take at=20 least 25 days to put the UN inspection team together, = another 60 for=20 their preliminary assessment =96 always assuming they are = given=20 "unfettered" access to all Iraqi government facilities -- = then=20 another 60 days for further inspections. In other words, = George=20 Bush's latest war has been delayed by more than five months. = Saddam,=20 of course, must have his own worries. Back in 1996, the = Iraqis were=20 already accusing the UN inspectorate of working with the=20 Israelis.

Major Scott Ritter, Iraq's nemesis-turned-saviour, was = indeed =96=20 as an inspector =96 regularly travelling to Tel Aviv to = consult=20 Israeli intelligence. Then Saddam accused the UN inspectors = of=20 working for the CIA. And he was right. The United States, it = emerged, was using the UN's Baghdad offices to bug Iraq's = government=20 communications. And once the inspectors were withdrawn in = 1998 and=20 the US and Britain launched "Operation Desert Fox", it = turned out=20 that virtually every one of the bombing targets had been = visited by=20 UN inspectors over the previous six months. Far from being = an=20 inspectorate, the UN lads =96 though they didn't all know it = =96 had=20 been acting as forward air controllers, drawing up an = American hit=20 list rather than monitoring compliance with UN = resolutions.

But a glance back at George Bush's UN speech last week = shows that=20 a free inspection of Saddam Hussein's supposed weapons of = mass=20 destruction was just one of six conditions which Iraq would = have to=20 meet if it "wishes peace". In other words, stand by for = further UN=20 Security Council resolutions which Saddam will find far more = difficult to accept.

The other Bush demands, for example, included the "end of = all=20 support for terrorism". Does this mean the UN will now be = urged to=20 send inspectors to hunt for evidence inside Iraq for = Saddam's=20 previous =96 or current =96 liaisons with guns-for-hire?

Then Bush demanded that Iraq "cease persecution of its = civilian=20 population, including Shia, Sunnis, Kurds, Turkomans and = others".=20 Notwithstanding the inclusion of Turkomans =96 worthy of = protection=20 indeed, though one wonders how they turned up on the Bush = list =96=20 does this mean that the UN could demand human rights = monitors inside=20 Iraq? In reality, such a proposal would be both moral and = highly=20 ethical, but America's Arab allies would profoundly hope = that such=20 monitors are not also dispatched to Riyadh, Cairo, Amman and = other=20 centres of gentle interrogation.

Yet even if Saddam was prepared to accede to all these = demands=20 with a sincerity he has not shown in response to other UN=20 resolutions, the Americans have made clear that sanctions = will only=20 be lifted =96 that Iraq's isolation will only end =96 with = "regime=20 change". For Mr Bush's sudden passion for international = adherence to=20 UN Security Council resolutions -- an enthusiasm which will = not, of=20 course, extend to Israel's flouting of UN resolutions of = equal=20 importance =96 is in reality a cynical manoeuvre to provide = legitimacy=20 for Washington's planned invasion of Iraq.

My own suspicion is that the Americans may try for a war = crimes=20 indictment against Saddam Hussein. Mr Bush's crocodile tears = for the=20 victims of Saddam's secret police torturers =96 who were = hard at work=20 when the president's father was maintaining warm relations = with the=20 Iraqi monster =96 suggest that somebody in the = administration is=20 playing with the idea of a war crimes trial. The tens of = thousands=20 of Iraqis subject to "summary execution, and torture by = beating,=20 burning, electric shock, starvation, mutilation and rape" = could=20 provide the evidence for any war crimes prosecution. Indeed, = when=20 the Americans sealed off northern Iraq in 1991 to provide a = dubious=20 "safe haven" for the Kurds, they scooped up masses of Iraqi=20 government documents, flew them out of Dohuk in a fleet of = Chinook=20 helicopters and squirrelled them away in Washington as = evidence for=20 a possible future tribunal.

But even this idea has a hand grenade attached to it. = Today, for=20 example =96 and you will look elsewhere in vain for any = mention of=20 this =96 marks the 20th anniversary of the 1982 Sabra and = Chatila=20 massacre, the slaughter of 1,700 Palestinian civilians by = Israel's=20 Phalangist militia allies, a bloodbath which Israel's own = army=20 watched and noted =96 and did nothing about. Lawyers for the = families=20 of the victims are even now appealing against a Belgian = decision not=20 to allow Israel's prime minister, Ariel Sharon =96 then the = defence=20 minister who was judged "personally responsible" by Israel's = commission of inquiry =96 to be tried for these mass = murders.

If Saddam Hussein can be charged with war crimes =96 and = he should=20 be =96 then why not Ariel Sharon? Why not Rifaat Assad, the = brother of=20 the late president of Syria, whose Special Forces killed up = to=20 20,000 Syrians in the rebellious city of Hama in 1982? Why = not the=20 Algerian police officers who have routinely tortured and = murdered=20 civilians in the country's dirty war against the "Islamist"=20 insurgency?

But justice is not what President Bush wants =96 unless = it's a=20 useful way of putting America's enemies out of the way, of = effecting=20 "regime change" or of providing a useful excuse for a = military=20 invasion which will leave US oil companies =96 including Mr = Bush's own=20 buddies =96 in control of one of the world's largest = reserves of oil.=20 Saddam Hussein's own cynicism =96 for he could have given UN = inspectors free rein years ago =96 will be matched by Mr = Bush's=20 cynicism. Saddam's letter to Mr Annan was a smart move, as=20 contemptuous as it was inevitable. Stand by, then, for an = equally=20 contemptible response from President Bush.

Also from the Commentators = section.

Andrew=20 Brown: At last, a theological row that's about = theology
Richard=20 Askwith: Why you won't see me marching for my countryside =
Stephen=20 Pollard: This is the worst way to protect the Third = World
Clive=20 Anderson: The first rule for TV is, never let content get in = the way=20 of a good title
Robert=20 Fisk: America's case for war is built on blindness, = hypocrisy and=20 lies

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