Letter on No Fly Zones in today's independent

[Chris Doyle <doylec@DELETETHISarab-british.u-net.com>]

Dear all

Below is the text of a letter published in today's Independent  from Sir
Cyril Townsend, CAABU's Director, on the issue of the no-fly zones in Iraq. 


Chris Doyle

Council for the Advancement of Arab-British Understanding
21 Collingham Road
London SW5 0NU
Tel: 020 7373 8414
Fax: 020 7835 2088
Mobile 07968 040 281
www.caabu.org (under construction)

Published: 28 June 2000

The Letters Editor
The Independent
1 Canada Square
London E14 5DL
Fax No: 020 7293 2056
                                                                Monday, 26
June 2000






Martin Howard's letter (26 June 2000) promotes the myth that there is
legitimacy for the no fly zones in Iraq. 
Nowhere in UN Security Council Resolution 688 does there appear any mention
of patrolling arbitrarily drawn-up areas of Iraq in such a fashion.
Intervening militarily in another state should require a separate UN
Security Council resolution. 
Furthermore, there is no evidence that this has prevented the government of
Iraq from suppressing the Iraqi population, a point that US and UK spokesmen
make frequently when discussing Iraqi human rights violations. The US at
least might sound more sincere if it had turned down Iraq's request to use
helicopters in 1991: subsequently Iraq was able to repress rebellions in the
south and the north. 
This particularly US-UK policy lacks international support and credibility -
not least in the Arab World. Ten years after the invasion of Kuwait, fresh
thinking is required over Iraq. 





SIR CYRIL TOWNSEND
Director

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