|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Institute for Public Accuracy
|
|
|
|
Chemical Weapons Agency "Coup"?
|
|
|
| WASHINGTON
- April 24 -
On Monday evening, the U.S. government succeeded in ousting Jose Bustani, the director-general of the international Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. In today's Christian Science Monitor, a French ambassador says that a
potential "chain reaction risks leading to the destruction of the
multilateral system." The following analysts are available for interviews:
GEORGE MONBIOT,
g.monbiot@zetnet.co.uk, www.monbiot.com
In a column published by the British Guardian newspaper on April 16, Monbiot wrote:
"On Sunday, the U.S. government will launch an international coup ... to
unseat the man in charge of ridding the world of chemical weapons."
Monbiot, author of Captive State and visiting professor of politics at
the University of Keele in England, said today: "Two weeks ago, the U.S.
Ambassador to the UN in Vienna failed, for the first time, to attend a meeting
of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.... A week ago, the Washington Post
revealed that the Pentagon had told the CIA to investigate Hans Blix, the chief
UN weapons inspector, in the hope of undermining his credibility. When the CIA
failed to discover any evidence of wrongdoing, the deputy defense secretary is
reported to have 'hit the ceiling'.... On Monday, the U.S. government forced
the departure of Jose Bustani, director-general of the Organization for the
Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.... These recent attempts to undermine
international treaties are being pursued with an eye to the impending war with
Iraq.... The U.S. justification for war is that Saddam Hussein may possess
weapons of mass destruction. So the two foremost obstacles to war were Blix and
Bustani, who have proposed nonviolent methods of getting rid of these
weapons.... The ousting of Bustani was done in an illegal manner -- there is no
provision for removing the head of such an agency in midterm."
IAN WILLIAMS,
uswarreport@igc.org
Author of UN for Beginners, Williams said today: "The administration accused Bustani of 'ongoing financial mismanagement, demoralization of the Technical Secretariat
staff, and ill-considered initiatives.' The main accuser is John Bolton,
Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security. Bolton
used to be the in-house UN-basher for the right-wing Heritage Foundation....
Ironically for someone who spent years saying that the U.S. should get out of
the United Nations, Bolton was recently revealed as taking money from Taiwan to
advise them on how to get into the organization.... Bustani's biggest 'crime'
was trying to persuade Iraq to sign the [chemical arms] convention, which could
mean that OPCW inspectors would inspect Iraqi facilities."
NICOLE DELLER,
ndeller@lcnp.org, www.ieer.org, www.lcnp.org
Principal editor of the recent report "Rule of Power or Rule of Law? An Assessment of U.S.
Policies and Actions Regarding Security-Related Treaties," Deller said
today: "The U.S. has undermined the chemical weapons treaty by passing
legislation that conflicts with the terms of the inspection provisions of the
treaty.... This is part of a pattern, as our report found that the U.S. has
violated, compromised, or acted to undermine in some crucial way every treaty
that we have studied in detail."
###
|
|
|
Common Dreams NewsCenter is a non-profit news service
providing breaking news and views for the Progressive Community.
The
press release posted here has been provided to Common Dreams NewsWire by
one of the many progressive organizations who make up America's Progressive Community.
If
you wish to comment on this press release or would like more information,
please contact the organization directly.
*all times Eastern US (GMT-5:00)
Making News?
Read our Guidelines
for Submitting News Releases
© Copyright
1997-2003 Common Dreams.
www.commondreams.org
|
|
