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This is in response to "A NASTY SLIP ON IRAQI OIL" June 7, 2003 - the Guardian's retraction of its June 4th article. The story was "wrong" says the readers' editor because it rested on "misconstrued remarks" made by the US deputy defence secretary". http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,972620,00.html --- Dear List, Looking at the full Wolfowitz quote, I see it as a cynical, if perhaps unconscious, denial of the brutal sanctions regime. I don't suppose he ever stops to think about it. Iraq "floats on a sea of oil", said Wolfowitz. The Archbishop of Basra, Gabriel Kassab used almost the same words when he spoke to the Austrian radiooncologist, Dr. Eva-Maria Hobiger, and her group in September 2002: "Here in Basra", said the Archbishop, we float on a huge sea of oil so we live in one of the wealthiest regions of Iraq, but we are prevented from using this wealth.... I appeal to all people of good will to raise their voices and demand that this inhuman embargo will be removed, that we will not be hit with yet another war, and that at last we will be allowed again the means to sustain live. "The embargo has paralysed the life of the whole city... We lead lives that are unbearable, undignified, and unjust for any human being on this earth!"[1] The defenders of Mr. Wolfowitz accused the Guardian that they "misconstrued his remarks". The Guardian cites one incensed reader as writing: "'You make it sound [as though Mr Wolfowitz] was saying the US had to go to war for economic reasons because it needed the Iraqi oil, when what he was really saying was that...economic sanctions and incentives didn't work with Iraq because of the oil revenue." Well, readers who put such whitewashing words into Wolfowitz' mouth may not have read the transcript of his Q&A session at the Asia Security Conference in Singapore, May 31. Or else they are bending the truth: Wolfowitz mentioned nothing about "sanctions and incentives" - nothing. Still, in fairness it must be said that he did not make the foolish admission that the "Iraq War Was About Oil", as the Guardian headline claims. (The Guardian felt that Wolfowitz, who had "already undermined Tony Blair's position" had done it again.)[2] By "already undermined", the Guardian meant the blithe Wolfowitz admission that WMDs were merely the "bureaucratic reasons" for this war. This transpired from an interview with Vanity Fair (May 29): "The truth is that for reasons that have a lot to do with the US government bureaucracy, we settled on the one issue that everyone could agree on which was weapons of mass destruction as the core reason", a Pentagon transcript quoted him as saying.[3] Vanity Fair cut this down to size a bit and in that version the quote was blown up into articles in all the papers, including the Guardian - which felt this too was damaging to Mr. Blair (June 1). These "bureaucratic reasons" created a stir across the Channel. This was a slap in the face to European leaders who had just benignly welcomed the 'lifting' of the sanctions. And now this Wolfowitz quote showed them up as hypocrites. So this is the background to the Wolfowitz' floating "on a sea of oil". But he wasn't asked in Singapore what the war on Iraq was about. He was asked about non-proliferation, specifically why Korea was treated differently than Iraq. "To other countries of the world", concluded one questioner, "this is a very mixed message to be sending out." And it was in response to that questioner that Wolfowitz made this remark. This is the full quote: "Look, the primarily (sic) difference -- to put it a little too simply -- between North Korea and Iraq is that we had virtually no economic options with Iraq because the country floats on a sea of oil. In the case of North Korea, the country is teetering on the edge of economic collapse and that I believe is a major point of leverage whereas the military picture with North Korea is very different from that with Iraq."[4] Questions: --- "we had virtually no economic options" Had Wolfowitz forgotten the US insisted on the sanctions precisely as "economic option"? That this was the "leverage"? Or did he think the sanctions were a Yankee gift to the Iraqi people? --- "In the case of North Korea, the country is teetering on the edge of economic collapse..." Iraq wasn't merely "teetering on the edge": by all accounts, it_had_ economically collapsed. So had the social structure and the lives of the Iraqi people. Wolfowitz four days later in Tokyo: This was in Singapore, May 31. On June 3, 2003, Wolfowitz gave another press conference in Tokyo. Of course, the war wasn't about oil, he told them. What nonsense! Q&A: "Q: I'm Satoru Suzuki with TV-Asahi of Japan. Mr. Secretary, eleven weeks have passed since the coalition forces moved into Iraq. Yet you've found no weapons of mass destruction in that country -- no convincing evidence yet. Given that, are you still convinced that you'll be able to find such weapons eventually and, in the absence of such weapons, how can you still justify the war, and what would you say to those critics in Japan and the rest of the world who've been saying that the war was mainly about oil?" "Wolfowitz: Well, let me start with the last part. The notion that the war was ever about oil is a complete piece of nonsense. If the United States had been interested in Iraq's oil, it would have been very simple 12 years ago or any time in the last 12 years to simply do a deal with Saddam Hussein."[5] Yes, so simple... And lest we forget about the devastating effects of the sanctions regime, I am quoting again Archbishop Gabriel Kassab of Basra. These were his words in September 2002: "Here in Basra", said the Archbishop, we float on a huge sea of oil so we live in one of the wealthiest regions of Iraq, but we are prevented from using this wealth.... I appeal to all people of good will to raise their voices and demand that this inhuman embargo will be removed, that we will not be hit with yet another war, and that at last we will be allowed again the means to sustain live. "The embargo has paralysed the life of the whole city... We lead lives that are unbearable, undignified, and unjust for any human being on this earth!"[1] Best regards, Elga Sutter Notes: [1] This is a report from Dr. Hobiger's trip to Iraq: "Collateral Damage" - September 11 to 22, 2002. [2] "Wolfowitz: Iraq War Was About Oil" by George Wright, June 4, 2003 (The Guardian). http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0604-10.htm [3] "Reasons for War: Wolfowitz interview draws fire", by Robert H. Reid, Associated Press, May 31, 2003. http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/151/nation/Wolfowitz_interview_draws_fireP.s html [4] Q&A session following remarks at the IISS Asia Security Conference in Singapore. Presenter: Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, May 31, 2003. http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/2003/tr20030531-depsecdef0246.html [5] Media availability at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo. Presenter: Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, Tuesday, June 3, 2003 http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/2003/tr20030603-depsecdef02 _______________________________________________ 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