February 18, 2003
Right Now, Iran is Suing the U.S. For Its Support of Saddam
Hussein in the 80's
Translated from Der SpiegelBUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT
http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,236508,00.html
A strange spectacle in court: As the USA prepares for a war against
Iraq, it is being sued by Iran for its previous close relationship
to Saddam Hussein. At the International Court of Justice, Teheran is
accusing the United States of delivering dangerous chemicals and deadly
viruses to Baghdad during the eighties.
The Hague - The oral deposition in Iran's suit against the United
States in the matter of the destruction of Iranian oil platforms in
1987/88 began on Monday. The suit was presented to the highest court
of the United Nations in 1992 and has been handled in writing ever
since.
Teheran accuses Washington of the destruction of three oil platforms
in the Persial Gulf. The US argues that the attack was in retaliation
of Iranian attacks of ships sailing under the American flag. The court
has scheduled three weeks to hear arguments from both sides.
The Iranian representatives accuse the USA of having provided Iraq
with raw materials for chemical and biological weapons at the end of
the 80's. The US government had delivered dangerous chemicals and deadly
viruses to the Iraqi government for its war.
Washington had provided aid to Iraq in this, and other ways, in its
war against Iran, said Iran's representative at the start of the oral
depositions.
Mohamat Zahedin-Labbaf, as the spokesman of the Iranian delegation,
emphasized that the US could not dispute the destruction of the platforms.
The US version, that it had been a matter of defense against Iranian
missile attacks of ships under the US flag doesn't hold water, he said.
In any case, the USA had violated the Friendship Treaty which both
countries had signed in 1955. It is this Treaty which constitutes the
legal basis for these proceedings, according to a 1996 decision by
the highest court of the United Nations. Both delegations will be able
to argue their positions in detail during the next three weeks.
Professor Bruno Summa, a German expert on international law, was sworn
in as the new judge at the beginning of the proceedings on Monday.
The longtime University Professor at the University of Munich was elected
as one of the 15 regular judges of the Supreme Court in the Hague Peace
Palace.
BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT
--
"The liberty of a republic is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of
private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic
State itself. What, in its essence, is Fascism, but ownership of government
by an individual, by a group or by any controlling private power ?"
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
