Hans Blix - testify against Bush in war crime tribunal

Hans Blix Would Testify Against Bush-Cheney War Crimes

بليكس يكشف تعرضه لضغوط أميركية بشأن ملف أسلحة العراق

كشف هانز بليكس رئيس فريق المفتشين الدوليين السابق في العراق ومدير الوكالة الدولية للطاقة الذرية سابقا عن أن الولايات المتحدة كانت قد صممت على غزو العراق بغض النظر عن نتيجة عمليات التفتيش. وذكّر بليكس أنه ومدير الوكالة الدولية للطاقة الذرية ومحمد البرادعي سمعا أثناء مقابلة لهما مع ديك تشني نائب الرئيس الأميركي ما يشبه التهديد بالتشكيك في صدقيتهما. وقال إنه فهم أن واشنطن تريد ان تسمع إجابة محددة، كانت مستعدة لاختلاقها إن لم تجدها. وقال بليكس في مقابلة مع الجزيرة من العاصمة السويدية أستوكهولم إنه فهم هذا التهديد بتشويه سمعته والبرادعي من ديك تشيني. وأضاف "ما فهمته أنهم إذا لم نأت بالأجوبة المطلوبة، فسيقدمون هذه الأجوبة ويتخذون الإجراءات تباعا"، لكنه أوضح أن ذلك الكلام لم يؤثر على سير عمله وتقديم الحقائق لمجلس الأمن الذي طلب المزيد من التحقيق. وردا على سؤال بشأن استعداده لأن يكون شاهدا أمام محكمة دولية على زيف الادعاءات الأميركية فيما يتعلق بأسلحة الدمار الشامل العراقية، قال بليكس إنه مستعد لأن يروي قصته للعالم كله، وأوضح أنه أصدر كتابا بهذا الخصوص. وأشار إلى أن محمد البرادعي تحدث حينها في مجلس الأمن الدولي عن الادعاء الأميركي بوجود اتفاق تعاون نووي بين العراق والنيجر بأنه تزوير ومجرد مزاعم، معتبرا أن الاعتقاد بوجود أسلحة دمار شامل عراقية كان فضيحة. أسباب الحرب " الإدارة الأميركية ضللت نفسها وضللت العالم بترويجها أن مسألة أسلحة الدمار الشامل سبب لغزو العراق " هانز بليكس وأعرب رئيس فريق المفتشين الدوليين السابق في العراق عن اعتقاده بأن النفط كان من أهم الأسباب التي دعت إلى قيام الحرب، وقال في هذا السياق "كما في حرب الخليج الأولى ما زالت هناك مصلحة إستراتيجية لوجود القوات الأميركية قريبا من خطوط النفط وخطوط الشحن". كما أعرب بليكس عن اعتقاده أن الإدارة الأميركية ضللت نفسها وضللت العالم بترويجها أن مسألة أسلحة الدمار الشامل سبب لغزو العراق. وعدد المفتش الدولي السابق أسبابا أخرى للحرب تم ذكرها ولم يتم تأكيدها. وحسب كلامه، فإن أحد الأسباب هو إصرار الإدارة الأميركية على أنها هاجمت القاعدة في العراق، مشيرا إلى أن التنظيم لم يكن حينها موجودا العراق وإنما جاء لاحقا بعد الحرب. أما السبب الآخر للحرب -وفق المفتش الدولي السابق- فهو سعي الولايات المتحدة "لتحرير العراق كي يصبح ديمقراطيا"، لكن بليكس أشار إلى وجود "تساؤل عما إذا كانت هناك ذريعة لنشر الديمقراطية عبر الحرب". وأعرب بليكس عن أمله في أن يتحلى الرئيس الأميركي المنتخب باراك أوباما بموقف مختلف عن "الإدارة السابقة التي كانت تود إطلاق العنف والسير فيه".

Hans Blix Would Testify Against Bush-Cheney War Crimes


Aljazeera

http://www.aljazeera.net/NR/EXERES/5E375469-466D-47CF-B004-A588C4E3103E.htm


In an interview with Aljazeera today, former Chief of the UN weapons inspectors in Iraq told the TV that he and the Head of the IAEA “Mohamed Al-Baradei” were subjected to direct threats from Dick Cheney before the war.

Blix said that Cheney threatened to defame both men’s reputations if they didn’t came with the “required” answers.

It's the same story from everyone else - Bush and Cheney demanded pro-war lies under one threat or another - being defamed, getting fired, and even outing covert CIA operatives. The Bush Administration was nothing more than a mafia operation.

But here's the good part:

Blix also added that he is ready to be a witness on the United States’ false allegations before an International tribunal.



video part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/v/BWi4UhaSyCo&hl=en&fs=1
part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/v/v4OTVWpXaeE&hl=en&fs=1

http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/insideiraq/2008/10/200810665740452694.html

Bush has admitted that US assessments of Iraq's WMD were wrong [GALLO/GETTY]

Weapons of mass destruction or WMD - three words that took on such importance and became one of the ostensible reasons for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 by US and allied troops.



Despite Saddam Hussein's eventual agreement to allow UN weapons inspectors into the country, the US and Britain accused Iraq of deceiving the world about its WMD plans.

Many observers claim that the decision to go to war had already been made and that intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction was skewed to justify the war. Others felt Saddam was to blame for the invasion, deliberately being vague and elusive on any WMD programmes in order to keep the world guessing about his true strength.

One of the key figures at the heart of the WMD issue in the run-up to the war was Hans Blix who, as chief of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, was responsible for judging Iraq's true level of threat.

Inside Iraq confronts him on some critical issues such as the legality of the war, the haste in launching it, verification of intelligence and the lessons learned to avert a similar war in the future.

And, in light of the ongoing controversy over Iran's nuclear power programme, we look at whether the issue of WMD might again form the basis for further military adventurism in the region.

Hans Martin Blix (born 28 June 1928 in Uppsala, Sweden) is a Swedish diplomat and politician. He was Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs (1978 - 1979). Blix was also the head of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission from March 2000 to June 2003, when he was succeeded by Demetrius Perricos. In 2002, the commission began searching Iraq for weapons of mass destruction, ultimately finding none.

The Sydney Peace Foundation, which announced the award on Monday morning, said Dr Blix was the unanimous choice of the prize jury.

The citation reads: "Hans Blix, for principled and courageous opposition to proponents of war in Iraq, for lifelong advocacy of humanitarian law and non-violence and for leadership of disarmament programs to rid the world of weapons of terror".

Dr Blix, the former chief UN weapons inspector, declared in 2004 that the war in Iraq was illegal.

In 2003, he said Iraq had probably destroyed all its weapons of mass destruction in the early 1990s.

The jury for the Sydney peace prize is made up of seven community leaders from diverse fields, including business, media and academia, who assess the merits of an individual or organisation to promote peace and justice.

Alan Cameron, Chair of the Sydney Peace Foundation, says it is highly relevant that in the 10th anniversary year of the Sydney Peace Prize, the jury focused on universal disarmament as a major peace issue.

Dr Blix will deliver the City of Sydney Peace Prize Lecture on November 7 in Sydney. He will receive the prize at a gala dinner and award ceremony the following night.

The Sydney Peace Foundation is a non-profit organisation created in 1998 within the University of Sydney.


During the Iraq disarmament crisis before the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Blix was called back from retirement by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to lead United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission in charge of monitoring Iraq. Kofi Annan originally recommended Rolf Ekéus, who worked with UNSCOM in the past, but both Russia and France vetoed his appointment. Newt Gingrich stated that approving Hans Blix as chief UN weapons inspector was one of the biggest mistakes the United States ever made.

Hans Blix personally admonished Saddam for "cat and mouse" games and warned Iraq of "serious consequences" if it attempted to hinder or delay his mission .

In his report to the UN Security Council on 14 February 2003, Blix claimed that "If Iraq had provided the necessary cooperation in 1991, the phase of disarmament -- under resolution 687 -- could have been short and a decade of sanctions could have been avoided."

Blix's statements about the Iraq WMD program came to contradict the claims of the George W. Bush administration, and attracted a great deal of criticism from supporters of the invasion of Iraq. In an interview on BBC TV on 8 February 2004, Dr. Blix accused the US and British governments of dramatising the threat of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, in order to strengthen the case for the 2003 war against the regime of Saddam Hussein. Ultimately, no stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction were found.

In an interview with London's Guardian newspaper, Hans Blix said, "I have my detractors in Washington. There are bastards who spread things around, of course, who planted nasty things in the media" .

In 2004, Blix published a book, Disarming Iraq, where he gives his account of the events and inspections before the coalition began its invasion.

Blix said he suspected his home and office were bugged by the United States, while he led teams searching for Saddam Hussein's supposed weapons of mass destruction.Although these suspicions were never directly substantiated, evidence of bugging of UN security council representatives around the time the US was seeking approval from the council came to light after a British government translator leaked a document "allegedly from an American National Security Agency" requesting that British intelligence put wiretaps on delegates to the UN security council.

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