[casi-analysis] 3 points on Iraq

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1 - Last week Iraqi scientists released a statement pointing to the role of
UN inspectors in perpetuating the Iraq WMD hoax. Two of Iraq's chief nuclear
scientists asserted "with absolute certainty" that Iraq had eliminated its
weapons of mass destruction in the summer of 1991.

2 - Selected excerpts from a Christian Science Monitor article that confronts
the age-old imperialist question, "Today the US faces the same dilemma that
dogged the British: How to grant self-rule to Iraqis as promised, while keeping
overall control." A few blasts of historical reality helps put the US blather
about restoring Iraqi sovereignty in perspective.

3 - Excerpts from another Christian Science Monitor article describing some
developments in Kirkuk where tensions appear to be coming to a head.
-
I'll be away for a week
In Solidarity,  Bob Allen

NO WMD in Iraq since 1991
On March 8 two of Iraq's chief nuclear scientists released a paper in Beirut
asserting "with absolute certainty" that Iraq had eliminated its weapons of
mass destruction in the summer of 1991. The report was written by the so-called
"father of the Iraqi nuclear program" Dr. Jafar Dhia Jafar, and another former
director nuclear agency, Noman Saad Eddin al-Noaimi. Since leaving Iraq
following the US invasion, Dr. Jafar has voluntarily cooperated in over twenty
debriefings on Iraq's weapons programs with US officials. He has also submitted to
a US administered lie detector test to confirm the accuracy of his account.

The report states, "Saddam Hussein issued orders in July 1991 for the
destruction of all banned weapons, in addition to the systems to produce them. It was
carried out by the Special Republican Guard forces," Also, "We can confirm
that Iraq no longer possessed any weapons of mass destruction after its
unilateral destruction of all its components in the summer of 1991, and did not resume
any such activity because it no longer had the foundations to resume such
activity,"

Dr. Jafar faults the United Nations officials charged with weapons
inspections in Iraq for failing to 'tell the truth' and certify Iraq's compliance with
UN resolutions. He says UN weapons inspectors "had all the facts, but evidently
did not present them convincingly enough to the United Nations Security
Council." And, "The United Nations inspectors were on the ground. They were
everywhere. They had access to all the documents ... They knew the facts, and they
should have said confidently that Iraq was free of weapons of mass destruction."
A March 9 Associated Press article points out some of the far reaching
implications of Jafar's statements. "If Jafar is right, the United Nations
inspectors had detailed evidence to rebut the arguments about Iraqi WMDs made in the
intelligence dossiers compiled by Britain and the United States."

By failing to challenge the accusations from Washington and London UN
officials lent them credibility.

AP story on Dr. Jafar:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2001874764&;
zsection_id=268448413&slug=iraqnukes09&date=20040309
Washington Post article on Jafar
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&;
contentId=A17489-2004Feb5&notFound=true

"How to grant self-rule to Iraqis as promised, while keeping overall control."


Excerpts from the March 11, 2004 CSM

"When the British came to Baghdad in 1917, they declared that 'We are here as
liberators, not occupiers.' That is the same statement the Americans have
made," says Ghassan Atiyyah, an expert on the 1920 revolt and head of the Iraq
Foundation for Development and Democracy. "Iraqis thought the British were
sincere about it, and they proved to have other designs. [Today] Iraqis are asking:
'How could America get rid of Saddam in three weeks, and have no elections in
11 months?' "

In his memoirs, the British commander in charge of quelling the revolt, Lt.
Gen. Sir Aylmer Haldane, wrote in 1922 of the "vanity of what we undertook," in
confiscating 63,000 rifles from Iraqi tribes. The Iraqis "not only rearmed
themselves but acquired weapons of more modern type," Gen. Haldane lamented,
leading him to conclude of Mesopotamia that "it is folly to think, not in one
year but even in many years, to draw the teeth of its inhabitants."

... one method that contributed to the 1920 revolt and future unrest was a
British plan that "relied heavily on putting pliable but unpopular Arabs in sham
authority." That view echoes complaints today among Iraqis that the Governing
Council is a tool of US policy, under Washington's thumb in the same way that
powerful British advisers decades ago controlled handpicked Iraqi ministers.

Entire article:
- http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0311/p01s03-woiq.html

CS Monitor on Kirkuk developments
Excerpts from the March 08, 2004 CSM

The long-simmering friction between Kurds and Turkmens here is taking a
sectarian turn, with thousands of Shiite militiamen recently arriving to protect
the Turkmens and Arab coreligionists against Kurdish hopes to incorporate Kirkuk
into their sphere of influence in the north.
Demographics of Kirkuk
At the root of Kirkuk's problems is the question of who is in the majority,
and, therefore, who has the right to control the city - and its massive oil
wealth. Kirkuk sits on the largest oil field in northern Iraq, with 10 billion
barrels in proven oil reserves.
... several Shiite militias arrived here in recent weeks. They include the
Army of the Mahdi, the militia of the firebrand cleric Muqtada Sadr; the Badr
Brigades, the military wing of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in
Iraq; Iraqi Hizbullah; and the Dawa Party.
At the start of the month some 2,000 militiamen and -women from the Army of
the Mahdi staged a march through Kirkuk. Kurds viewed the march as a
provocative demonstration of Shiite force. The next day, some 100 Kurds ransacked the
headquarters of the Iraqi Turkmen Front and looted shops owned by Turkmens and
Arabs. "It's a bad sign and makes us uncomfortable," says the PUK's Mr. Jawhar,
referring to the march. "We are trying to build a new Iraqi Army so why do we
have to have this Army of the Mahdi. It creates worries for everyone."
Some Kurdish officials say that Iran is backing the Shiite presence in Kirkuk
as a bulwark against Kurdish attempts to control the city. Iraq's neighbors -
Iran, Syria and Turkey - oppose Kurdish autonomy, fearing it will inflame
their own sizable Kurdish populations.
Entire article can be found
- http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0308/p01s04-woiq.html


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