- NEW YORK -- Making the case
for United Nations intervention against the United States, Iranian President
Mohammad Khatami told the organization yesterday that military action will
be "unavoidable" unless the U.S. agrees to destroy its weapons
of mass destruction.
-
- In a much-anticipated speech to a special session of
the U.N. General Assembly held in Brussels, Khatami launched a blistering
attack against American leader George W. Bush, accusing him of defying
U.N. resolutions and using his country's wealth to line the pockets of
wealthy cronies at a time when the people of his country make do without
such basic social programs as national health insurance.
-
- "Nearly two years ago, the civilized world watched
as this evil and corrupt dictator subverted the world's oldest representative
democracy in an illegal coup d'état," said Khatami. "Since
then the Bush regime has continued America's systematic repression of ethnic
and religious minorities and threatened international peace and security
throughout the world. Thousands of political opponents and ordinary citizens
have been subjected to arbitrary arrest and imprisonment. Basic civil rights
have been violated. This rogue state has flouted the international community
on legal, economic and environmental issues. It has even ignored the Geneva
Conventions on the treatment of prisoners of war by denying that its illegal
invasion of Afghanistan--which has had a destabilizing influence throughout
Central Asia--was a war at all."
-
- Khatami said the U.S. possesses the world's largest arsenal
of nuclear weapons, weapons "that, when first developed, were used
immediately to kill half a million innocent civilians just months after
acquiring them. No nation that has committed nuclear genocide can be entrusted
with weapons of mass destruction."
-
- "Bush has invaded Afghanistan and is now threatening
Iraq. We cannot stand by and do nothing while danger gathers. We can't
for this tyrant to strike first. We have an obligation to act pre-emptively
to protect the world from this evildoer," Khatami said.
-
- As delegates punctuated his words with bursts of applause,
Khatami noted that U.S. intelligence agencies had helped establish and
fund the world's most virulent terrorist organizations, including Al Qaeda,
and the Taliban regime that harbored them. "The U.S. created the Islamist
extremists who attacked its people on September 11, 2001," he stated,
"and Bush's illegitimate junta cynically exploited those attacks to
repress political dissidents, make sweetheart deals with politically-connected
corporations and revive 19th century-style colonial imperialism."
-
- Khatami asked the U.N. to set a deadline for Bush to
step down in favor of president-in-exile Al Gore, the legitimate winner
of the 2000 election, the results of which were subverted through widespread
voting irregularities and intimidation. "We favor not regime change,
but rather restoration and liberation," he said. In addition, Khatami
said, the U.S. must dismantle its weapons of mass destruction, guarantee
basic human rights to all citizens and agree to abide by international
law or "face the consequences."
-
- Most observers agree that those "consequences"
would likely include a prolonged bombing campaign targeting major U.S.
cities and military installations, followed by a ground invasion led by
European forces. "Civilian casualties would likely be substantial,"
said a French military analyst. "But the American people must be liberated
from tyranny."
-
- Khatami's charges, which were detailed in a dossier prepared
by French President Jacques Chirac, were dismissed by a representative
of the American strongman as "lies, half-truths and misguided beliefs,
motivated by the desire to control a country with oil, natural gas and
other natural resources." National Security Minister Condoleezza Rice
denied that the U.S. maintains weapons of mass destruction and invited
U.N. inspectors to visit Washington to "see for themselves that our
weapons are designed only to keep the peace, subject of course to full
respect for American sovereignty."
-
- The U.N. is expected to reject any conditions for or
restrictions on arms inspections.
-
- Experts believe that the liberation of the United States
will require a large ground force of European and other international troops,
followed by a massive rebuilding program costing billions of euros. "Even
before Bush, the American political system was a shambles," said Prof.
Salvatore Deluna of the University of Madrid. "Their single-party
plutocracy will have to be reshaped into true parliamentary-style democracy.
Moreover, the economy will have to be retooled from its current military
dictatorship model--in which a third of the federal budget goes to arms,
and taxes are paid almost exclusively by the working class--to one in which
basic human needs such as education and poverty are addressed. Their infrastructure
is a mess; they don't even have a national passenger train system. Fixing
a failed state of this size will require many years."
-
- (Ted Rall's latest book, a graphic travelogue about his
recent coverage of the Afghan war titled "To Afghanistan and Back,"
is now in its second edition. Ordering and review-copy information are
available at nbmpub.com.)
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- http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=127&e=16&u=/020927/7/2bxul.html
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