her er noe å lese grundig mht juridiske aspekter, se f.ke.s pkt 1 og 2.
Flautt å være Vollebæk, han gir i alle retninger.
(klippet fra http://www.zmag.org/lies.htm)
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Lies, Fraud, Deceit
Response from Anti-War Forces to Clinton's Bombing of Iraq
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Talking Points for Anti-war Organizers
On November 16, 1998, the International Action Center issued the following
analysis and warning: "Frustrated by last-minute diplomatic efforts, the
Clinton Administration was forced to temporarily suspend its plans to bomb
Iraq Nov. 15. Make no mistake about it, however. The crisis is not
resolved. Peace is not at hand. The stage has been sent for a new U.S. war
of aggression against Iraq. It is true that Iraqi President Sadaam Hussein
publicly accepted all the U.S. demands on Nov. 14, making it difficult for
U.S. President Bill Clinton to justify killing thousands of Iraqi
civilians. Nevertheless, Washington is determined to create new
provocations and `incidents'_which will be the pretext for massive aerial
destruction in Baghdad, Basra, and other Iraq cities."
U.S. government claim:
Clinton asserts the right to bomb Iraq because it was not complying with UN
weapons inspectors.
Counterpoints:
1.) Even if Iraq was in noncompliance, the U.S. bombing would be a major
violation of the UN Charter, international law, and U.S. law. The UN
Charter prohibits countries from carrying out military action against other
countries unless faced with the need for self-defense from imminent
aggression.
2.) The U.S. based its attack on the report by Richard Butler, chairman of
UNSCOM, but UNSCOM is answerable only to the UN Security Council and the
Security Council did not authorize a U.S. bombing of Iraq. In fact, both
Russia and China--two of the five members of the Security Council--have
demanded that Butler be fired for having withdrawn UN weapons inspectors
without first receiving the support of the Security Council. The unilateral
decision to withdraw the weapons inspectors was clearly a U.S., not a UN,
operation. The Washington Post, on December 16, suggested that the
administration had carefully orchestrated the timing and content of Richard
Butler's unfavorable report about Iraq. The New York Times, on December 18,
says that the U.S. air strikes have been planned since December 1 and that
Butler's report was simply a "formality."
3.) So far, the U.S. bombing has hit local residential neighborhoods in
Baghdad and in Basra and very likely in many other places in Iraq. By
conservative estimates, scores of civilians have been killed. A Russian
diplomat has been killed. Major water pipes providing water in residential
areas in Baghdad have been destroyed. A major civilian housing unit
received a direct hit from a cruise missile on December 17. There is no way
to know yet the extent of the damage, but it will be vast.
4.) Again, no "noncompliance" by Iraq provides legal justification for this
unilateral strike. Everyone in the world knows that the military campaign
is coupled with economic sanctions and a major CIA subversion effort (ie,
$97 million plan approved by Congress and the president) that constitute
the core elements of a classic destabilization strategy. The U.S did this
in Iran in 1953, Guatemala in 1954, Chile under Allende from 1970-73, in
Nicaragua against the Sandinistas in the 1980s, and elsewhere. The real
goal is to replace the current government with a puppet government in a
country that contains 10 percent of the world's known oil reserves.
5.) But let's look at the specifics of the U.S. charges against Iraq right
now. They too are a lie. Was Iraq in noncompliance? Neither Butler nor the
U.S. has challenged the Iraqi Foreign Minister's allegation that since
November 17, 1998, when Iraq allowed weapons inspections to resume, there
have been 427 inspections, 128 of them at new sites, and UNSCOM has cited
only five so-called obstructions. Five obstructions! And what were they?
One was a 45 minute delay before allowing access. Another was a rebuff to
an outrageous demand by a U.S. arm inspector, Dianne Seamons, that
inspectors be allowed to interview all of the undergraduate students in
Baghdad University's Science Department. Another, on December 9, was the
inspection of a small headquarters of the Baathist political party.
Inspectors left those premises after they were asked what is the relation
between the small headquarters of a party and the disarmament mission. The
last two cases of so-called Iraqi noncompliance were this: UNSCOM asked to
inspect two establishments on Fridays--the Muslim holy day. The Iraqis told
UNSCOM that since these establishments were not open on Friday, the
inspectors could visit the establishments, but they would need to be
accompanied by Iraqi officials. This is in accordance with the agreement
between Iraq and UNSCOM about Friday inspections. These five incidents are
the supposed legal basis for raining thousands of powerful missiles into Iraq.
6.) Finally, it is the U.S. government that is the largest producer of
weapons of mass destruction in the world. Only one country has ever dropped
a nuclear bomb--the U.S. did it twice on civilian areas in Japan in 1945.
The U.S. has more than 10,000 nuclear warheads. It has the largest
stockpile of chemical and biological weapons. The B-52 bombers are
currently dropping 3-5,000-pound bombs from 30,000 feet in Iraq.
Vennlig hilsen
Knut Rognes