Iraq attack?

[SDR]

An article by Ray McGovern, a 27-year veteran CIA analyst and co-founder in 2003 of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, writes about Iran's desire for nuclear capability and an impending pre-emptive attack either by the US or by Israel. The author also discusses the present state of nuclear capability in the region and the feasibility of achieving a nuclear-free Middle East. Readers with the patience to absorb this piece will be treated, finally, to a pertinent quote by George Washington!

Near the end McGovern says: "Preaching to Iran and others about not acquiring nuclear weapons is, indeed, like the village drunk preaching sobriety -- the more so as our government keeps developing new genres of nuclear weapons and keeps looking the other way as Israel enhances its own nuclear arsenal. Not a pretty moral picture, that. Indeed, it reminds me of the Scripture passage about taking the plank out of your own eye before insisting that the speck be removed from another's."

www.truthout.org/docs_2005/030205B.shtml

SDR

[Architorture]

why is the title "iraq attack"?

should the US not support any anti-proliferation movements while we have weapons?

owning nuclear weapons does not mean you are not trying to stop proliferation... proliferation is all about NEW countries getting nuclear weapons... the idea i guess is to keep those who are already in the club from giving away the technology to those who are not... b/c those who originally started off in the club had a very big interest in not letting others in...

in the end, having nuclear weapons doesn't mean you can't be against others from having them... especially considering that the true tactical advantages of having a weapons are no where near as important as the rhetorical ones...

having a nuclear weapon really doesn't make you any safer than you were without one so long as your enemy has one

[Richard Haut]

But America may already have used nuclear weapons: "I absolutely do not exclude their use of nuclear and chemical substances" - Iraqi ministry of health report on Fallujah (see lower down).



Iraqi Health Ministry confirms use by American occupation forces of internationally prohibited weapons in its attacks on al-Fallujah

Mafkarat al-Islam

Dr Khalid ash-Shaykhli, a representative of the Iraqi Ministry of Health who was authorized to assess health conditions in al-Fallujah after the end of the major battles there, announced that the surveys and studies which a medical team did in al-Fallujah and subsequently reported to the Ministry confirm that US forces used substances that are internationally prohibited -- including mustard gas, nerve gas, and other burning chemicals -- in the course of its attacks on the city.

Ash-Shaykhli held a press conference in the Health Ministry building in Baghdad's Bab al-Mu'azzam section on Tuesday. He began by reporting on the final results of the fact-finding mission's survey of the situation in which the people of al-Fallujah find themselves. He said that the city now is still experiencing the effects of chemical and other types of weapons used by the Americans, which will be causing serious diseases over the long term.

The correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam asked ash-Shaykhli what were the facts regarding use by the occupation forces of limited nuclear weapons. Dr. ash-Shaykhli said,

"What I saw during our researches in al-Fallujah make me believe everything that has been said about that battle. I absolutely do not exclude their use of nuclear and chemical substances, since all forms of nature were wiped out in that city. I can even say that we found dozens, not to say hundreds, of stray dogs, cats, and birds that had perished as a result of those gasses."

During the press conference, which was attended by more than 20 Iraqi and Arab journalists, Ash-Shaykhli promised that he would be sending the study and the results that the committee produced to responsible bodies -- both Iraqi and international ones.

The press conference was attended by correspondents of the Iraqi ash-Sharqiyah television network, the Iraqi government-run al-'Iraqiyah satellite TV network, and the as-Sumariyah network, in addition to foreign media, such as the American Washington Post and the Knight-Ridder service and the Iraqi as-Sabah newspaper -- besides the correspondent of Mafkarat al-Islam.

The findings disclosed at Tuesday's [Tuesday, March 1, 2005] press conference must be seen as the most serious statements to be made since the end of nearly four months of military operations in al-Fallujah, Mafkarat al-Islam noted. Mafkarat al-Islam was the first to report on the American occupation forces' use of gasses and burning and chemical substances during the first days after the outbreak of fighting in the city.

Translated by website special correspondent Eric MŸller

[Donald]

[Richard Haut]

"Exactly what one would expect coming from the Iraqi Ministry of Health"

That shows the depth of concern displayed for the Iraqi people.

You evidently support what happened in Fallujah.

Nerve gas, mustard gas, napalm ........

What happened always was going to come out. It will keep being reported, checked, confirmed, re-reported.

[SDR]

The title should of course read "Iran attack." My error.

Anybody else actually read the article?

SDR

[Richard Haut]

Yes, I'd read it before (have to be careful about posting articles by US authors - it usually results in attempted character assassination of the author).

Remember that a significant part of the faked-up case against Iraq involved the hype about non-existent uranium trading and so-called timescales to nuclear capability so the current scenario against Iran is not much different. The point about Fallujah is that it is possible that America used nuclear material in Fallujah.

Both Iran and Syria should be given immediate nuclear cover by the vast array of other nations threatened by Bush, such as Russia and China.

Mind you, rumour has it that that might already have happened.

[Donald]

[Richard Haut]

Whatever happens in the Middle East, Fallujah will return again and again and again to haunt America.

Today the report is from the Iraqi ministry of health, tomorrow it will be from another organisation, then another and another.

Sly move, targetting doctors so they couldn't report on the casualties. But it is those who come looking for the survivors who are the witnesses of history's massacres - whether at Babi Yar or in Fallujah.

[Donald]

[SDR]

Interesting piece on the use of prohibited weapons in the Iraq war, Richard. I hadn't heard any of that before.

Just this morning I came across a long article by Seymour Hersh, published in the last week of January in the New Yorker (can't seem to find it on their -- or his -- website). The gist is that Mr Rumsfeld has learned some lessons in Iraq and would prosecute any future action -- in Iran, for instance -- a little differently: the newly-created ultra-secret non-CIA intelligence arm of the Pentagon will enable him to keep an even tighter lid on any bad news emanating from the next war zone, for one thing.

Colin Powell was overheard as he spoke on the phone, shortly before his fateful appearance before the Security Council in the lead-up to the war, referring to the Neo-cons as "those crazies." His regrets about (at least) that phase of his defense of the White House's position become clearer with each passing month, now. No wonder GWB has circled the wagons, surrounding himself with an ever-more loyal cadre of yes-men (and women.)

I mean, ya gotta FEEL GOOD, while taking over the world, right?

SDR

[Richard Haut]

the more news that does come from Fallujah, the more alarming it becomes.

a great deal of trouble was taken to keep secret what was planned (and the nature of it was carefully planned). Senior British officers had been highly critical of US military behaviour in Iraq. Therefore the British were suckered in so that they would be tainted by whatever happened.

first strikes were against hospitals and clinics - apparently because in other attacks it was doctors who had reported on the nature and number of casualties.

then the reports started to leak out about "chemicals", "gases", strange weapons that killed everything. The Red Crescent was not allowed access.

the US military eventually admitted that the number of insurgents in Fallujah had been "somewhat less than 600". How many civilians remained ? Many, many, many.

why the concern about Saddam's use of chemical weapons ? perhaps it was just jealousy that he did what they wanted to do.

As Dubya circles the wagons, it is interesting to see the standards of the people he surrounds himself with.

Perhaps the current joke is true - you don't show your resume to work with Bush, just your rap sheet.

[SDR]

Mr Hersh in his New Yorker piece mentions the return of the convicted Elliot Abrams to the fold, as assistant under-secretary for Middle East Affairs, rejoining his former colleague Mr Negroponte. (I believe Mr Abrams was pardoned by GHW Bush.)

I remember being puzzled by the breadth of initial destruction in Bagdad; it seemed as if the US forces intended to disrupt all normal life in the city and surrounding area, by knocking out the functioning utilities and services (which were later claimed to have been largely non-functioning prior to the invasion, a claim I have not seen substantiated). Also shocking -- and revealing -- was the unprevented looting of the museum of historical arifacts. The levels of infrastructure destruction in Iraq is appalling.

The use of prohibited weapons you refer to is said to have been part of last year's Fallujah offensive, I take it, not the initial invasion of Iraq?

SDR

[Richard Haut]

the weaponry I mentioned was in Fallujah.

there certainly was illegal weaponry used in the initial attacks (e.g. canister bombs), but to what extent I don't know. However this was an attack against an army that had effectively disbanded - so the destructiveness of the attack should be seen in the context of an, in effect, undefended nation.

much of the infrastructure (water, sewage, bridges) were knocked out by British and American bombing under the sanctions. However Saddam had managed to get a rudimentary health service and delivery of potable water functioning. The attack knocked that out - and it remained knocked out long enough to cause cholera. Has it been fixed ? No idea. (Remember that the UN figure for the number of Iraqi children dead as a direct result of the sanctions is over seven hundred thousand).

we will have to wait to find out just how much damage has been done to historic buildings and museums in Iraq - and the real extent of the looting. Archaeologists around the world have been protesting as loudly as they could, and the reports of looting of money are so widespread that it is probably only the major parts that will ever be known.

but don't forget the active part played in all this by Britain. Britain could have acted as a reasonable and calming voice, but chose to egg Bush on in his war-mongering.

just remember that the man who produced the report for the Iraqi ministry of health risked his life to do it. Like Seymour Hersch, or John Pilger, or Robert Fisk, those who try to find the truth for the rest of us are taking very real risks to do it - and not all of them have survived.

the senior British bioweapons scientist who told us the truth about some of the false evidence that Powell presented to the UN was found dead not long afterwards. Suicide ? Sure, just like so many of Stalin's generals.

[Architorture]