wrbones
04-23-03, 04:19 PM
http://www.brookesnews.com/032602saddam.html
Saddam defies UN, with his friends help
BrookesNews.Com
Wednesday 26 Feb. 2003
Saddam has made it clear that he will defy the UN and refuse to destroy his Al-Samoud 2 missiles. In an interview with CBS anchor man Dan Rather he stated that "Iraq is allowed to prepare proper missiles and we are committed to that," despite the fact that international experts have determined that the range of these missiles exceed the 150 kilometre range limit set by the UN.
Saddam has until the weekend to start destroying his missile system. If the UN allows him to keep his missiles then long range missiles of the type developed by North Korea will not be far away.
The US has made it clear that it is not buying. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer declared that "This is not about public relations. This is about protecting the lives of the American people ...If Saddam Hussein destroys the missiles that he said he never had ... you've got to wonder what other weapons does he have?"
Last Sunday Saddam met separately with Russian envoy Yevgeny Primakov and Ramsey Clark, a former U.S. attorney-general prominent in the anti-war movement. The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement, based on Primakov's advice, that Saddam would fully cooperate with UN inspectors.
Unfortunately, Primakov is not to be taken at his word when it comes to Saddam. Primakov is known to be a friend of Saddam's and deeply hostile to the West. He bitterly attacked NATO expansion and independence for former members of the Soviet Union.
Ramsey Clark's claim that Saddam will "do anything that he reasonably can that is honourable and protective of the sovereignty of his people to prevent war" will be immediately discounted by informed opinion.
What other news agencies have not reported is that Ramsey Clark is also Saddam's legal representative. A clear case of conflict of interest. Moreover, Ramsey and the Stalinist WWP (World Workers Party) set up the International Action Center in 1992. He is also a director of ANSWER (Act Now to Stop the War and End Racism) which is a front for the WWP which is believed to have received funding from Saddam.
WWP leaders are strong supporters Saddam and Kim Jong-Il. Despite having no apparent sources of income they frequently fly to Pyongyang and Baghdad. Ramsey has also been a frequent visitor to Baghdad.
Clark has a peculiar history on human rights. Apart from his strong association with the anti-Semitic WWP he supported the Ayatola Komeini's regime, defended dictator Slobodan Milosevic and stood up for the genocidal Hutu militias who ordered the mass murder of half a million Tutsi.
It is a sad reflection on the state of the media that reporters covering Ramsey's meeting with Saddam chose to ignore Ramsey's past. The same reporters who quoted Tony Benn and Peter Arnett chose not to reveal Benn's pro-Saddam sentiments and anti-Americanism. Nor did they mention that Arnett's reporting of the Gulf War from Baghdad earned him Saddam's gratitude.
If the media was genuinely concerned with its integrity and the reporting of facts rather than anti-American propaganda, then Arnett's reporting from Vietnam should have been enough to disqualify him from any respectable media outlet. It did not, any more than his pro-Saddam broadcasts during the Gulf War did, or the disgraceful Tailwind hoax he presided over.
That reporters treat seriously the views of Primakov, Arnett, Clark and Benn reveals just how ingrained anti-Americanism is in the media.
Print story
Saddam defies UN, with his friends help
BrookesNews.Com
Wednesday 26 Feb. 2003
Saddam has made it clear that he will defy the UN and refuse to destroy his Al-Samoud 2 missiles. In an interview with CBS anchor man Dan Rather he stated that "Iraq is allowed to prepare proper missiles and we are committed to that," despite the fact that international experts have determined that the range of these missiles exceed the 150 kilometre range limit set by the UN.
Saddam has until the weekend to start destroying his missile system. If the UN allows him to keep his missiles then long range missiles of the type developed by North Korea will not be far away.
The US has made it clear that it is not buying. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer declared that "This is not about public relations. This is about protecting the lives of the American people ...If Saddam Hussein destroys the missiles that he said he never had ... you've got to wonder what other weapons does he have?"
Last Sunday Saddam met separately with Russian envoy Yevgeny Primakov and Ramsey Clark, a former U.S. attorney-general prominent in the anti-war movement. The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement, based on Primakov's advice, that Saddam would fully cooperate with UN inspectors.
Unfortunately, Primakov is not to be taken at his word when it comes to Saddam. Primakov is known to be a friend of Saddam's and deeply hostile to the West. He bitterly attacked NATO expansion and independence for former members of the Soviet Union.
Ramsey Clark's claim that Saddam will "do anything that he reasonably can that is honourable and protective of the sovereignty of his people to prevent war" will be immediately discounted by informed opinion.
What other news agencies have not reported is that Ramsey Clark is also Saddam's legal representative. A clear case of conflict of interest. Moreover, Ramsey and the Stalinist WWP (World Workers Party) set up the International Action Center in 1992. He is also a director of ANSWER (Act Now to Stop the War and End Racism) which is a front for the WWP which is believed to have received funding from Saddam.
WWP leaders are strong supporters Saddam and Kim Jong-Il. Despite having no apparent sources of income they frequently fly to Pyongyang and Baghdad. Ramsey has also been a frequent visitor to Baghdad.
Clark has a peculiar history on human rights. Apart from his strong association with the anti-Semitic WWP he supported the Ayatola Komeini's regime, defended dictator Slobodan Milosevic and stood up for the genocidal Hutu militias who ordered the mass murder of half a million Tutsi.
It is a sad reflection on the state of the media that reporters covering Ramsey's meeting with Saddam chose to ignore Ramsey's past. The same reporters who quoted Tony Benn and Peter Arnett chose not to reveal Benn's pro-Saddam sentiments and anti-Americanism. Nor did they mention that Arnett's reporting of the Gulf War from Baghdad earned him Saddam's gratitude.
If the media was genuinely concerned with its integrity and the reporting of facts rather than anti-American propaganda, then Arnett's reporting from Vietnam should have been enough to disqualify him from any respectable media outlet. It did not, any more than his pro-Saddam broadcasts during the Gulf War did, or the disgraceful Tailwind hoax he presided over.
That reporters treat seriously the views of Primakov, Arnett, Clark and Benn reveals just how ingrained anti-Americanism is in the media.
Print story