Coastal
Post Online
June, 2003
Blix Blast, Shaky War Justification, US Evidence Fabrication,
Cluster Bomb Use And More
Sign Up For
Environmental Forum Of Marin
Applications are now being accepted for the
31st annual Training Program of the Environmental Forum of Marin. Classes begin
September 16, 2003 and continue every Tuesday through February 3. (Nov. 25,
Dec. 23 and 30 are holidays).
Scheduled topics include wetlands, wildlife, advocacy, land use,
agriculture, governmental and agency processes, energy toxics, and
transportation. The cost is $250. All trainers and personnel are volunteers and
professionals in their areas of expertise.
To request an application call Marilyn McConnell at (415)
479-7814, or write the Environmental Forum of Marin, P.O. Box 150459, San
Rafael, CA 94915.
War Justification Explained
Reuters: The US decision to stress the
threat posed by Iraq's supposed weapons of mass destruction above all others
was taken for "bureaucratic" reasons to justify the war, US Deputy
Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz was quoted as saying in remarks released on
Wednesday.
Wolfowitz, seen as
one of the most hawkish figures in the Bush administration's policy on Iraq,
said President Saddam Hussein's alleged cache of chemical, biological and
possibly nuclear weapons was merely one of several reasons behind the decision
to go to war. "For bureaucratic reasons, we settled on one issue, weapons
of mass destruction, because it was the one reason everyone could agree
on," he said.
Wolfowitz
said another reason for the invasion had been "almost unnoticed but
huge" -- namely that the ousting of Saddam would allow the United States
to remove its troops from Saudi Arabia, where their presence had long been a
major al Qaeda grievance.
Quotes from Vanity Fair.
The Argonist
Blix:
US Fabricated Iraq Evidence
By Nicholas Watt
The Guardian
War against Iraq was a foregone conclusion
months before the first shot was fired, the chief weapons inspector Hans Blix
has claimed.
In a scathing
attack on Britain and the US, Mr. Blix accused them of planning the war
"well in advance" and of "fabricating" evidence against
Iraq to justify their campaign.
Letting rip after months of frustration, he told the Spanish daily El
Pais: "There is evidence that this war was planned well in advance.
Sometimes this raises doubts about their attitude to the [weapons]
inspections."
Mr. Blix said
Iraq was paying a "a very high price in terms of human lives and the
destruction of a country" when the threat of banned weapons could have
been contained by UN inspections.
The 74-year Swedish diplomat made clear that he believes he was misled
by President Bush. At a White House meeting last October Mr. Bush backed the
work of Unmovic, the UN inspection team.
But at the time Mr. Blix knew "there were people within the
Bush administration who were skeptical and who were working on engineering
regime change." By the start of March the hawks in Washington and London
were growing impatient.
He said
he believed that finding weapons of mass destruction had been relegated as an
aim and the main objective had become the toppling of Saddam Hussein.
Cluster
Bomb Use
The Independent: The
British Government admitted during the war on Iraq that the use of cluster
bombs against civilian targets would "not be legal", a letter
obtained by The Independent has revealed.
Anti-land mine charities claimed tonight that the letter by Adam
Ingram, the Armed Forces minister, proved that the Ministry of Defense had
broken international law by using the munitions in towns and cities.
Mr. Ingram admitted for the first time
today that cluster bombs were dropped on "built-up areas" in Iraq in
an attempt to protect British servicemen.
Child Malnutrition In
Iraq
UNICEF recently conducted a
rapid assessment survey in Iraq to determine the current rate of malnutrition
among children under the age of five, with the results being released 10 days
ago.
The results showed that acute malnutrition among children had
almost doubled since before the war, jumping from 4 per cent to 7.7 per cent.
Children who are acutely malnourished are literally wasting away, and for
severe cases their condition can be fatal. Acute malnutrition sets in very fast
and is a strong indicator of the overall health of children.
Philadelphia
Condemns Patriot Act
Philadelphia Inquirer: Philadelphia became the country's largest city
May 29 to condemn the USA Patriot Act, criticizing the post-9/11 law as a
hastily written "threat to fundamental rights." The asserts that the
resulting Patriot Act itself "weakens, contradicts and undermines the
basic constitutional rights" such as privacy, protection from unreasonable
searches and seizures, and due process and equal protection.
The non-binding resolution, sponsored by
lame-duck Councilman Angel Ortiz, also calls on the region's three congressmen
and two senators to "work for the repeal of the act or those sections...
that violate fundamental rights and liberties."
The vote made Philadelphia the 117th city
in the country to condemn the law, according to the Bill of Rights Defense
Committee, which has coordinated the resolution campaign and describes itself
as a donation-funded activist network based in Florence, Mass. Other cities
include Reading and York in Pennsylvania, Baltimore, Detroit and San Francisco.
Three states-Alaska, Hawaii and Vermont-also have passed resolutions.
Urgent
Fund Appeal For Human Shield
In early April, 21-year-old Tom Hurndall, an International Solidarity
Movement (ISM) volunteer who was with us in Baghdad as a Human Shield, was shot
in the head by Israeli "Defense" Forces while protecting children
alongside a road near Rafa camp, Gaza. Tom was the third of four young people
working with ISM to nurture non-violent resistance to the occupation, to be
killed or wounded by Israeli troops- documentation subsequently uncovered by
ISM reveals that the Israeli military has a conscious policy of shooting
volunteers "in the head or in the eyes."
For months, Tom Hurndall has lain in a
deep coma in an Israeli hospital. Now
his parents are trying to raise $20,000 to move Tom back to England where they
can be close to him. Please send
donations to the Thomas Hurndall Fund at 29 Throgmorton Street/ London EC2N
AT. Bank transfers can be made to
Lloyd's Bank/273-275 Kentish Town Road/London NW5/ Send to the Thomas Hurndall
Fund/ sort code - 30-94-66 A/C 00977158.
And join myself and other elders this July for Palestine
Freedom Summer. See
www.palsolidarity.org for all the details.
Elders of Jewish descent particularly welcome.
John Ross
* * *
John Ross will soon go to the Occupied
Territories for Palestine Freedom Summer, an International Solidarity Movement
(ISM) campaign. Flattened by Iraq where Ross was a Human Shield, the maverick
author is once again appealing to companeras and companeros of good will to
help pay off a $1500 plane ticket to get him there and back. Contributions are
being cheerfully accepted at 1030 Capp Street, San Francisco CA 94110 USA.