The following is an archived copy of a message sent to a Discussion List run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.
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Dear List, No one should be surprised by the IISS report. This so called "think tank" is nothing more than an arm of MI5 and is there to serve British interests not provide objective analyses or reporting. The report is full of contradictions and fabrications. First of all, it begins by stating the following: "We began to work on the preparation on this Dossier, in the month of June. By then it had become evident that the increased attention to the threat posed by Iraq’s programmes to develop nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons as well as ballistic missiles, was crying out for a net assessment of this kind." This is part of the US/UK/Zionist propaganda against Iraq. The timing of the report is suspicious, as the claim that there is an Iraqi programme to develop WMDs is false and baseless. The report continues to spread lies like the following:" Iraq made every effort to obscure its past, obstruct dismantlement of its present assets, and retain capabilities for the future. Since Iraq forced inspections to end in December 1998, it has become more difficult to learn about its activities and assess its capabilities." The report claims to build its assessment on "strong foundation of technical expertise…. On recognised technical experts, with long field experience in UNSCOM and IAEA inspections.." We don't know who those experts are, but we know that for example Scott Ritter, UNSCOM's chief inspector, was not among them. We also know that the IAEA still insists that Iraq has no nuclear program nor facilities anymore. IISS continues with such statements:" If UNMOVIC inspectors were ever to go to Iraq, it would take them time to develop and refine the unique inspection techniques required. In addition, it would take them considerable field experience to develop the necessary tradecraft to deal with Iraqi obfuscation efforts. Certainly, the strength of Baghdad’s commitment to possess WMD is measurable in part by its efforts to resist unfettered UN inspections." The above reflects US/UK views that inspections would continue indefinitely, exactly what Iraq is afraid of. The IISS tells us that UNMOVIC needs "time", which contradicts with UNMOVIC's chairman's assertions that he can make his assessment within six months… Iraq has not resisted UN inspections, like the report claims. Iraq still agrees to inspections, but requires that a time limit and objectives be set for those inspections. It also wants guarantees that UNMOVIC will not be used like UNSCOM to spy on Iraq. And it wants guarantees that when inspection commences, sanctions would be lifted… The US and UK refuse to give such guarantees, because they don't want sanctions to be lifted. The report goes on to distort facts by bringing new justifications for the Gulf war. It states: "Had the Gulf War not intervened, Iraq could have accumulated a nuclear stockpile of a dozen or so weapons by the end of the decade." In other words, the Gulf War had nothing to do with Kuwait, the world community (funny word), the UN Charter or SC resolutions. It had to do with preventing Iraq from acquiring a nuclear weapon. And knowing that Iraq could not and would not have used such weapons against the UK or the US, then only Israel would have remained the objective. And that Holy Cow had to be protected at any price… Thank you IISS... Iraq has been right all this time... The war was to protect Israel, not liberate Kuwait like the naive thought.. The rest of the report is mere speculation, with words like "could have" and "could develop" or "is able to". Well if that is the case, then so could Denmark or Swaziland or Saudi Arabia. Should they also be attacked? How about countries that ALREADY have these weapons?? For a report that is supposed to be based on scientific research and technical know how, and drafted by a Senior Fellow for Non-Proliferation, and a Consulting Senior Fellow for Defence Policy and Technology, it is disappointing and biased. Perhaps we should also use some time to write to the IISS and to the media and expose this bias and the baseless conclusions that are based on mere speculation and malice. HZ _________________________________________________________ Need help building a winning CV? An impressive cover letter? It's all right here for FREE! Go to Maktoob Jobs. http://www.maktoob.com/ _______________________________________________ Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk