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FinalCall.com – With the Bush administration’s devotion to a regime change in Iraq, it’s no surprise that five days of actual inspections by United Nations personnel mean nothing to the president.
While the actual inspectors credited Iraqi officials with unhindered access, President Bush declared Dec. 2 that “the signs are not encouraging” that Saddam Hussein will cooperate with weapons inspectors. That pronouncement came in the face of inspectors offering a different view from the ground and days before an initial UN requirement that Iraq disclose its weapons of mass destruction.
“America will confront gathering dangers early before our options become limited and desperate,” said Mr. Bush, as he signed legislation that granted the U.S. military its largest spending boost since the Reagan years.
But is the danger that Iraq will violate the UN resolutions that prohibit weapons of mass destructions, or that if Iraqis cooperate the U.S. will lose half-hearted support for a war?
With its appeal to the United Nations for support in disarming a one-time U.S. political pawn, White House rhetoric about a regime change has apparently been off the lips, but not far from the heart of America’s commander in chief.
The UN mandate was simply to be a rubberstamp and shield for U.S. desires to remove the monster that it helped create in the first place. Such double dealing and hypocrisy is what causes global resentment against U.S. policy. Richard Perle, a major Bush advocate for war, caused a stir in the United Kingdom. During a recent visit the war hawk said it really didn’t matter what Saddam did, the U.S. wanted a regime change and that was that.
The United Nations is like a blanket, a convenient cover for U.S. imperialism, but too warm when it comes to the heat of dealing with troublesome matters like the 2001 U.S.-boycotted UN World Conference Against Racism in South Africa. The UN is a troublesome place when it comes to matters like the International Criminal Court, conventions against executing youth convicted of capital crimes, international peacekeeping and dues to fund the world body.
The world may bow to bullying tactics, like pressure exerted on smaller countries to support the Security Council resolution that backed Bush on Iraq, but the masses of the people won’t like it. Might doesn’t make right, it only compounds frustration over America’s imperial arrogance.
That arrogance showed when the U.S. questioned whether Hans Blix, the man in charge of UN inspections, could be “tough enough” on Iraq. Mr. Blix was chosen to oversee a process that proves–again the word is proves–charges that Iraq possesses weapons of mass destruction. The U.S. is so obsessed about ensuring that Iraq fails any UN test, that even the intimate habits of one inspector was blasted across the screens of cable television stations and in newspapers to discredit the operation.
Arrogance showed again when the U.S. complained that Mr. Blix, a lawyer, couldn’t do the job because he was consulting with staff and diplomats in New York and not in the Iraqi desert. It didn’t matter that the inspections had barely began.
The arrogance is also reflected in the president’s Dec. 2 warning that he would not accept “any act of delay, deception or defiance.” Funny, wasn’t this supposed to be a UN operation? Or maybe the UN part of the operation ended with passage of the resolution that Mr. Bush desired.
