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For what its worth, I watched the Ritter-Butler "debate" which was somewhat interesting despite the dumbed down talk show format, that is until 2 hawkish pro-war advocates were brought on stage to give their ill-informed comments. Probably the most salient point made was by Butler who resolutely said that any unilateral war engaged by the US against Iraq would be wrong, illegal and unjustifiable, and that the only way military action should occur, if it does and if its absolutely necessary, is through UN Security Council approval. He also said that the inspectors need much more time, beyond jan.27, to perform their current tasks, and that no attempt be made to pre-empt their work by a premature move towards war. Butler has made these comments against unilateral military action frequently elsewhere, and more should be made of it in the case against an unnecessary and provocative war that the Washington hawks are pushing, as as he is not some-one who readily criticises the US. Ritter also, however, effectively set the record straight about the inspectors being "thrown out" by Iraq in 1998, which Butler referred to (in fact Butler withdrew them before the bombing), as well as saying that UNSCOM was compromised by the US which was using the inspections regime for espionage outside the mandate of the insepctors' tasks. Peter Kiernan _______________________________________________ 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