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--- Begin Message ----Caveat Lector- The Crawford Agreement: Another Secret Pact http://www.aljazeerah.info/Opinion%20editorials/2005%20Opinion%20Editorials/June /16%20o/The%20Crawford%20Agreement%20Another%20Secret%20Pact%20By% 20Adel%20Safty.htm By Adel SaftyAl-Jazeerah, June 16, 2005 In 1915 the English and the French governments entered into a secret pact, the Sykes-Picot Agreement, whereby they agreed to divide the Middle East among themselves after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire. In 1956, the English, the French and the Israeli governments entered into a secret pact, the Sevres Agreement, whereby they devised a plan to attack Egypt in order to seize the Suez Canal and bring down Nasser?s nationalist regime. In April, 2002, the American and the British governments entered into an extraordinary secret pact, the Crawford Agreement, whereby Bush and Blair, meeting at Crawford, Texas, secretly agreed to attack Iraq, to create ?certain conditions? to justify their illegal enterprise, and to ?shape public opinion.? Classified secret documents leaked to the Sunday Times (May 1, 05) also show that on July 23, 2002, a secret meeting took place at 10 Downing Street in the presence of the prime minister. The assessment of the chairman of the joint intelligence committee, John Scarlett, was that ?the primary impetus to action over Iraq was not the threat posed by weapons of mass destruction? but the desire to overthrow Saddam. There was little talk of WMD at all.? Sir Richard Dearlove, the chief of M 16, said that the Americans were trying to link Iraq to 9/11, but the evidence was non-existent and that ?the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy?. This was also the opinion of Foreign Secretary Jack Straw who believed the case against Iraq was ?thin? as ?Saddam was not threatening his neighbours, and his WMD capability was less than that of Libya, North Korea or Iran.? The attorney general Sir Peter Goldsmith?s legal opinion was that, ?the desire for regime change was not a legal base for military action?. Straw suggested a duplicitous route reminiscent of the 1956 Anglo-Franco-Israeli collusion against Egypt: luring Saddam Hussein into giving them a reason for war- ?We should work up a plan for an ultimatum?? he said. We know from Bush?s coordinator of counter-terrorism, Richard Clark that Bush clearly wanted him to find a link between Iraq and September 11 attacks (Against All Enemies). Without waiting for evidence of any such links, however, Bush reportedly signed, only six days after September 11, a secret document outlining the war plan for Afghanistan, and instructing the Pentagon to also start making war plans for Iraq (Washington Post, January 12, 2003) If Saddam Hussein could not be linked to September 11, he might be linked to weapons of mass destruction. On November 26, 2001, Bush extended his definition of terrorism to include states that ?harbour a terrorist,? and states that develop weapons of mass destruction. Leading members of the administration including Cheney, Wolfowitz, Scooter Libby, Cheney?s chief of Staff, and Douglas Feith distorted intelligence to help ?shape public opinion? for the coming war. Douglas Feith, the Under Secretary of Defence for policy known for his ultra rightwing Zionist convictions and connections, was particularly active in the deception campaign. The Levin Report, issued in October 2004 by the senior Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee (Carl Levin of Michigan), shows that ?on the question of an Iraqi-Qaeda axis, Mr. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and others offered an indictment that was essentially fabricated in the office of Douglas Feith?.? (NYT, Oct 23, 04) When Feith did not like the Defence Intelligence Agency?s finding that there was no link between Iraq and Al Quaeda, ? Mr. Feith's team wrote its own report.? Feith then bypassed the CIA and the DIA, and presented his misleading reports to a White House eager to find justification for its war plans. Even when the fallacy of the claims about Iraq?s nuclear weapons program was exposed the White House continued to propagate the false message. Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who had been sent by the Bush administration to Nigeria in 2002 to investigate the claim that Saddam Hussein tried to buy uranium from Nigeria, went public with his finding that the claim was baseless. (NYT, July 6, 2003) Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the US Armed Forces General, Carlton Fulford had also reached the same conclusion in Nigeria. (Democracy Now, Sept 30, 04). Yet, the Bush administration persisted in propagating the false message. In January 2003, Bush made his now discredited claim that: "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." Former CIA analyst Larry Johnson confirmed that such misleading statements were made knowingly: ?the CIA analysts consistently warned the Administration,? he said, ??that the reports of Iraq trying to get their hands on a nuke were wrong? But the policymakers did not want to hear it.? We know from recent revelations to the Guardian (April 4, 05) that Mrs. Elizabeth Wilmshurst, legal advisor in the British Foreign Office, resigned in March 2003 to protest the illegality of the war, saying that the planned invasion of Iraq was ?a crime of aggression.? After the May revelations to the Sunday Times, Lord Boyce, chief of Defence Staff, said that if British servicemen were put on trial at the International Criminal Court, ministers should be ?brought into the frame as well?. Asked if that should include Blair and Goldsmith, he said: ?Too bloody right.? (May 1, 05) The secret Crawford Agreement, and the campaign of deception that made the Iraq war possible, are extraordinary events that set international relations back to the 19th century era of secret agreements and imperial domination. Two years after the Sykes Picot Agreement, US president Woodrow Wilson articulated a vision for the post-World War I public order in which secret agreements and the trampling of peoples? right to determine their own future had no place. Almost a century later, Wilson would be aghast at how remarkable achievements in his vision of a new international order could so defiantly be set aside in favour of the discredited practice of secret agreements and imperial realpolitik. Wilson might also deplore the state of the institutions of democracy. It is indeed remarkable that despite these extraordinary revelations, and the incalculable growing cost in innocent lives lost in the war, the influential media and the main opposition parties in Washington and London, are no more inclined today to seriously tackle the question of accountability than they were when they acted as cheerleaders for the war. Prof. Safty is UNESCO Chair of Leadership and President of the School of Government and Leadership, Bahcesehir University, Istanbul. He is author-editor of 14 books including From Camp David to the Gulf, and Leadership and Democracy, IPSL Press. New York, 2004.~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Alamaine Grand Forks, ND, US of A www.ctrl.org 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, ctrl gives 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. 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These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'â??with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsâ??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://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ <A HREF="http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/";>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
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