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________________________________________________________________________ From: Sam Husseini <sam@accuracy.org> Here's a letter of mine that the Post published today, minus their poor edits. Many media outlets have been making the same mistake, saying the Iraq shut down the weapons inspections, when infact, Richard Butler did. Please feel free to use this letter as a resourse to correct other media outlets. Sorry if you get more than one copy of this, still trying to figure out my new email program. -Sam The Washington Post September 16, 1999, Thursday LETTERS TO THE EDITOR To the Editor: In "U.S. Air Raids on Iraq Become an Almost Daily Ritual" [news article, August 30], it is asserted that "more than a year has passed since Iraq shut down the U.N. weapons inspection program that President Clinton so often proclaimed as essential to keeping the peace." This is inaccurate. The weapons inspection program was shut down when its head, Richard Butler, withdrew the inspectors in December of 1998 following the release of a self-contradictory report. On Dec. 14, the Post would later report, "Clinton administration officials played a direct role in shaping Butler's text during multiple conversations with him... at secure facilities in the U.S. mission to the U.N." The next day, Butler released the report, which stated that "the majority of the inspections of facilities and sites under the continuing monitoring system were carried out with Iraq's cooperation" -- yet concluded that "the Commission is not able to conduct the substantive disarmament work mandated to it." With this tangled rational, Butler withdrew the weapons inspectors >from Iraq. On Dec. 16 (the eve of Clinton's scheduled impeachment vote) the U.S. began the bombing campaign "Desert Fox." As for the weapons inspections being "essential to keeping the peace," why did the U.S. government undermine them by using them for espionage against Iraq? Further, why did the administration (contrary to U.N. Security Council resolutions) repeatedly state that the devastating economic sanctions would stay in place even if Iraq complied with the weapons inspectors? These are hardly the policies one would expect if weapons of mass destruction were a pivotal concern for the administration. SAM HUSSEINI Communications Director Institute for Public Accuracy Washington --------------------------------------------------------------------- Sam Husseini sam@accuracy.org Institute for Public Accuracy Tel: 202-347-0020 915 National Press Building Fax: 202-347-0290 Washington, DC 20045 http://www.accuracy.org Sign up on IPA’s list, e-mail subject line "subscribe" to ipa@accuracy.org If you are a journalist, please include your name and outlet in the message. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a discussion list run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To be removed/added, email soc-casi-discuss-request@lists.cam.ac.uk, NOT the whole list. Please do not sent emails with attached files to the list *** Archived at http://linux.clare.cam.ac.uk/~saw27/casi/discuss.html ***