http://www.zmag.org/CrisesCurEvts/Iraq/blumiraq.htm

<h2>Some Details of the Set-Up you May Have Missed</h2>

By <B>William Blum</b>, December 1998
<P>
"A U.S. official who follows Iraq", speaking of the November
cancellation of an air strike: "We were so close to pulling the
trigger and circumstances were so optimum to do so that there's
something surreal about SENDING UNSCOM BACK IN TO BUILD A CASE
AGAINST HIM AGAIN when we had the best possible case and didn't
use it." (emphasis added) Washington Post, Dec. 7
<P>
"[UNSCOM Executive Chairman Richard] Butler's conclusions were
welcome in Washington, which helped orchestrate the terms of the
Australian diplomat's report. Sources in New York and Washington
said Clinton administration officials played a direct role in
shaping Butler's text during multiple conversations with him
Monday." Washington Post, Dec. 16
<P>
Former UNSCOM inspector, Scott Ritter: "What Richard Butler did
last week with the inspections was a set-up. This was designed to
generate a conflict that would justify a bombing." Ritter said
U.S. government sources told him three weeks ago when the
inspections resumed that "the two considerations on the horizon
were Ramadan and impeachment."             Ritter continued: "If
you dig around, you'll find out why Richard Butler yesterday ran
to the phone four times. He was talking to his [U.S.] National
Security adviser. They were telling him to sharpen the language in
his report to justify the bombing." New York Post, Dec. 17
<P>
"The U.S. has perverted the U.N. weapons process by using it as a
tool to justify military actions, falsely so. ... The U.S. was
using the inspection process as a trigger for war." Scott Ritter,
on the NBC Today show, Dec. 17
<P>
Arguing that Butler deliberately wrote a justification for war, a
U.N. diplomat, "who is generally sympathetic to Washington", said,
"Based on the same facts he could have said, `There were something
like 300 inspections [in recent weeks] and we encountered
difficulties in five.'" Washington Post, Dec.17
<P>
"Among the circumstances cited by those who suspect Butler of
coordinating with Washington on a rationale for war, three stand
out:
<P>
<UL>
   <LI> One is that Butler made four visits to the U.S. mission to
     the United Nations on Monday, the day before finishing his
     report.      A second is that administration officials
     acknowledge they had advance knowledge of the language he
     would use and sought to influence it, as one official said,
     `at the margins.' The third is that Butler ordered his
     inspectors to evacuate Baghdad, in anticipation of a military
     attack, on Tuesday night -- at a time when most members of
     the Security Council had yet to receive his report."

   <LI> Other U.N. diplomats "also asserted that Butler gave far more
     equivocal progress reports to them, in the days leading up to
     his written report, than his final conclusion that he is `not
     able to conduct the substantive disarmament work' because of
     the `absence of full cooperation by Iraq'."

   <LI> "What we were told by Butler for weeks was yes, we've hit
     some roadblocks but the inspections are going on," said one
     New York-based diplomat." Washington Post, Dec. 18
</UL>













<hr>
The U.S.-operated Radio Free Iraq, broadcasting from
Prague, begins its daily broadcasts into Iraq with: "Dear
listeners, we hope that you are having a nice day, and that you
enjoy our programs today." It concludes: "Thank you for following
us and peace and blessings be upon you." Washington Post, Dec. 18
<P>
Compiled by William Blum Author: Killing Hope: U.S. Military and
CIA Interventions Since World War II
http://members.aol.com/bblum6/American_holocaust.htm