From: Dave Muller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: [southnews] No case for Iraq war, says UN chief
Date: Thu, 2 Jan 2003 11:29:05 -0600 (CST)
----------
No case for Iraq war, says UN chief
Blair warns Britain: Be ready for conflict in Gulf
By David Usborne and Marie Woolf
Independent (UK) 01 January 2003
Kofi Annan, the United Nations secretary general, said last night that he
saw no justification for a military onslaught against Iraq - at least until
the UN inspections chief, Hans Blix, submits a first full report to the
Security Council at the end of January.
His remarks were a blunt warning to Britain and the United States that they
will need clear evidence of clandestine weapons programmes in Iraq to win
support from other nations for any military campaign against Saddam Hussein
this winter. Mr Annan also said weapons inspectors in Iraq were working
without interference.
His comments stood in contrast to a bellicose end-of-year statement from
Tony Blair that Britain should be ready for possible conflict in the Gulf.
He said he was ready to take "tough decisions" on dealing with President
Saddam "regardless of short-term popularity".
Adding that it might become necessary to disarm him "by force", Mr Blair
added: "We must confront the issue of Iraq and weapons of mass destruction
because to fail to do so would make the world a very dangerous place in the
future, with countries free to flout the will of the United Nations."
America also continues to give the impression of preparing for near-certain
war.
Mr Blix has until 27 January to give the UN Security Council a first
comprehensive report on the progress of inspections in Iraq. In the next
four weeks, inspections in Iraq are likely to increase with additional
manpower as well as eight newly delivered helicopters to give inspectors
more mobility.
But alarm is growing in London and Washington because the work already done
by inspectors has failed to pick up any prohibited weapons activity, making
immeasurably harder the political task of justifying an armed invasion to
the UN The changing membership of the Security Council is also a stumbling
block to military action. Germany is among five countries taking
non-permanent seats on the Security Council today for a two-year term and
it has made clear its misgivings about war, vowing that its troops would
not participate.
The absence of incriminating evidence of clandestine weapons programmes in
Iraq was made clear yesterday by one of the inspectors. "We haven't found
one iota of concealed material yet," he told the Los Angeles Times. He said
there was "zilch" to report to the Security Council at the end of January,
but conceded that the failure to find anything might signify the Iraqis'
concealment skills.
Inspectors were frustrated by the failure of Britain and America to provide
intelligence. He said: "We need information. We need help. We need
intelligence reports - if they exist."
London and Washington face an uphill task in convincing other UN members to
support a war if Mr Blix returns to the Security Council with nothing to
show from the inspections and Iraq has given the impression of fully
co-operating. Mr Annan stressed that nothing had emerged to justify
launching a war before the 27 January report. Speaking to Israel's Army
Radio, he said: "I really do not see any basis for an action until then,
particularly as [the inspectors] are able to carry out their work in an
unimpeded manner."
If Mr Blix fails to find hard evidence of prohibited weapons activity, he
will almost certainly be pressed by America to identify Iraqi scientists
who know of concealed weapons. He may also be asked to take them out of
Iraq for questioning.
----------
31/12/2002
UN Press Release
SC/7624
------------------------------------------------------------------------
PRESIDENT OF UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL AND CHAIRMAN
OF MILITARY STAFF COMMITTEE IN JANUARY
In accordance with the principle of alphabetical rotation, the
following are the President of the United Nations Security
Council and the Chairman of the Military Staff Committee for
January:
Security Council
Jean-Marc de La Sablihre, Permanent Representative of France,
succeeds Alfonso Valdivieso, Permanent Representative of
Colombia, as President of the Security Council.
Military Staff Committee
Major General Daniel Bastien (France) succeeds Major General Chen
Feng (China) as Chairman of the Military Staff Committee.
* *** *
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meet America's New Big Brother http://www.hereinreality.com/bigbrother.html
The John Poindexter Awareness Office http://www.breakyourchains.org/jpao.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Is Pakistan Next? Consider: As thousands of Pakistanis prepared to
demonstrate Friday against the possibility of a U.S.-led war against Iraq,
American troops based in Afghanistan threatened to complicate U.S.-Pakistani
relations by asserting they have the right to cross the border into Pakistan in
hot pursuit of enemy fighters.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?I30D125F2
Do you Yahoo!?
<A HREF="">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A>
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now
