-Caveat Lector- "The British government is adamant that President Saddam is hiding such weapons and that if he insists in the declaration that he is not, it will provoke a crisis."
Of course, the above sentiment is not held by British talking heads alone, but it certainly spotlights the fact that this whole "weapons inspection" is strictly a manipulative propaganda ploy to put a spin of credibility on the Allied plans to bomb the hell out of Iraq. No matter what Iraq does, it loses in this matter. It's not a matter of "if" but "when" the bombs start dropping. The clock is ticking... Allies strive for Arab hearts and minds · Britain issues new dossier on Iraq's human rights record · US cranks up propaganda machine Ewen MacAskill and Brian Whitaker in Cairo Saturday November 30, 2002 The Guardian Britain is to step up its propaganda battle in the Arab and wider Muslim world next week as part of preparations for the potentially decisive Iraqi declaration on weapons of mass destruction. The foreign secretary, Jack Straw, is to publish a Foreign Office dossier on Monday setting out the brutal human rights record of the Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein. "In the Arab and Muslim world, we have just got to keep reminding people about the nature of the person we are dealing with," a Foreign Office source said. Various other initiatives are planned for next week, including a new station, Radio Sawa ("together"), set up by Washington, which has begun to try to woo the Arab world. Combined with this, the US is dropping leaflets across southern Iraq in an effort to demoralise the population. Planes dropped 360,000 leaflets over the southern no-fly zone on Thursday following US-led attacks on unmanned communication facilities between al-Kut and Basra. Iraq is required by a United Nations resolution to declare by December 8 all biological, chemical or nuclear-related weapons or components in its possession, if any. The British government is adamant that President Saddam is hiding such weapons and that if he insists in the declaration that he is not, it will provoke a crisis. Mr Straw, who will visit Turkey on Tuesday, is planning an interview with Muslim media outlets in the Arab world and in Britain next week to put across a message that war is not inevitable and that a route to peace is open to Iraq if it chooses to follow it. A similar message will be conveyed in a signed article by the prime minister, Tony Blair, today in Jang, an Urdu daily widely read in Britain as well as Pakistan and south-east Asia. The British government has been more energetic than the US since September 11 in the pursuit of hearts and minds in the Muslim world. Mr Blair, in the immediate aftermath of the Twin Towers attacks, succeeded in persuading the US president, George Bush, and the state department to stress that the "war on terrorism" was not a war against Islam. The dossier, a follow-up to one published in September that was supposed to make a case that Iraq was developing weapons of mass destruction, pulls together human rights abuses in Iraq over the last two decades and focuses on the treatment of women and of prisoners. For legal reasons, Britain, unlike the US, cannot justify an attack on Iraq on the grounds of regime change. The Foreign Office source denied that the dossier was designed to make such a case. The source said President Saddam's behaviour towards his own people explained why he could not be trusted with weapons of mass destruction. "His disregard for human life is why we can't let him have these weapons," he said. The Foreign Office is also making longer-term plans to try to encourage changes in the Middle East through educational and cultural programmes, dealing especially with democracy, human rights and freedom of women. More generally throughout the Middle East, the US is attempting to win hearts, if not minds, with Radio Sawa. At a cost of $35m (£22.5m), it broadcasts almost non-stop music - a sugary mixture of Arab and western pop, carefully researched to appeal to the under-30s. There are also brief news bulletins in Arabic every half hour. Radio Sawa is intended to replace Voice of America's Arabic service, which has proved unpopular in the region. The Public Broadcasting System of the US is planning to broadcast a two-hour documentary on the life of Mohammed, the prophet of Islam, on December 18 and a day later rebroadcast a two-hour documentary on the diverse interpretations of Islam around the world. The documentaries are mainly for internal consumption within the US. The American leaflet drop on Iraq on Thursday is the fifth such in the last two months. It is designed to demoralise air defence forces and to discourage workers from repairing equipment damaged in air raids. One leaflet warned Iraqis in Arabic not to attempt to repair fibre-optic cables. "You are risking your life," it said. "The cables are tools used to suppress the Iraqi people by Saddam and his regime, they are targeted for destruction." Another leaflet, addressed to Iraqi air defence forces, says: "The destruction experienced by your colleagues in other air defence locations is a response to your continuing aggression towards planes of the coalition forces. "No tracking or firing on these aircraft will be tolerated. You could be next." Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002 http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,851063,00.html <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! 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