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CounterPunch
March 10,
2003
Toothpicks and
Gruding Matters
Blix Undermines
US War Plans
By ROBERT FISK
Oh, for the ice-cold Swedish eye on the Middle
East. Ah, for the freezing Scandinavian vision of truth. Hans
Blix, everybody's headmaster, delivered his school report yesterday
with enough fairness to outrage both pupil--Iraq--and parent,
ultimately the US.
Yes, Iraq had provided the names of relevant
scientists, but "only a few documents had come to light--a
disappointment". And on Iraq's destruction of al-Samoud
2 missiles--a "substantial measure of disarmament"--a
Swedish bon mot. "We are not watching the destruction of
toothpicks," Mr Blix said. Toothpicks, indeed.
Words of truly Nordic neutrality followed:
"reluctant co-operation", "soberly judged",
"immediate co-operation" (which was not obtained),
"a considerable volume of documents". The famous aluminum
tubes turned out--if one believes Mr Blix, and why not--to have
nothing to do with nuclear weapons (goodbye, the British intelligence
file). And--if you believe Mohamed al-Baradei, and again why
not--quite a number of  other US documents are lies. But the
words from this most intransigent of Swedes to most enrage the
warmongers were: "We intend to continue our inspection activities."
You could almost hear the roar of fury
from the Americans. Saddam has lied; the UN hasn't found the
weapons. The UN doesn't know how to find them. Alas for President
Bush, the UN was urged to go to Iraq last year by ... President
Bush.
He thought Saddam would not allow inspectors
to land in Iraq. Saddam let the inspectors in--so the inspectors
must now be trashed by Washington. Not an easy task when Mr Blix--the
archetypal, friendly Swedish bear--is in charge.
The words were no help to US war plans.
"Plausible ... verifiable ... progress," he said of
his mission. All words the US would welcome if they wanted the
inspectors to succeed. Hence the statement from Joschka Fischer,
the German Foreign Minister: "We see no need for a second
resolution." Which, of course, was the view of the French
and the Russians--and Mr Blix. So, Mr Blix, watch out.
Colin Powell didn't seem quite ready
for the report, though there was plenty of talk of "criminal
evidence", of "lying and deceit", along with some
new phrases: "cluster of questions" and "tens
of thousands [sic] of delivery systems".
Yes, Mr Powell, who picked up the "toothpicks"
metaphor, liked Iraq's co-operation--he could scarcely say otherwise--but
added he was "sorry to learn that this is coming in a grudging
manner".
The two words not mentioned were those
of the countries whose people are really killing each other:
Israel and Palestine. Alas, that would have muddied the waters--and
introduced an element of reality to this frozen debate at the
UN.
Yesterday's
Features
The Black Commentator
All
About Clarence
Ben Granby
Nightmare
in Rafah
Fidel Castro
Bush's
War on the Dark Corners of the World
Niranjan Ramakrishnan
Riding
the Tiger in India: Will the World's Largest Democracy Become
a Religio-Fascist Purgatory?
Linda Heard
Make Way for Reality Politics
Alex Lynch
Tragedy of the Ridiculous War
Paul D'Amato
Obey
the US or Pay the Price
Ron Jacobs
Peace Treaties, Nukes and North Korea
Shulamit Aloni
Murder
Under the Cover of Rigtheousness
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March 8 /
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