For once, a government spokesperson was both completely honest and right on the money. This is an occassion meriting pause for contemplation not only because of the rarity of such incidences, but also because of the subject matter. For it referred to the defining axis of contemporary events. The evil one.

To elaborate, (only briefly, mind), today the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) released a report which bravely informed the world that Saddam Hussein was a bad man. Not only is he a bad man, but he apparently has the tools with which to be bad - *very* bad!

It is said in the report, (which could hardly be impugned for headline grabbing), that Saddam Hussein could build a nuclear bomb within months. The one important clause being that some foreign power with access to weapons-grade uranium would have to be kind enough to supply him with some. Hussein's evil intent can hardly be questioned, and certainly not when confronted with the serene, learned face of John Chipman, head of the IISS.

Chipman, for those who haven't been introduced to him, is a Dr. He is also a CMG, an honour bestowed by Her Majesty to the best and brightest, (and which, lowly civil servants joke, stands for "Call Me God"). He studied (and fenced) at Harvard and Oxford, emerging with several MAs with distinctions, one M.Phil and one D.Phil. One year more and he could have had a Re.Phil. His star has soared in the establishment firmament. Apart from being married to the lovely daughter of the 10th Duke of Rutland, Lady Theresa (nee Manners), he was also a fellow of the Rockefeller Foundation. He has been a NATO Fellow of the IISS before climbing the ladder of licked arseholes and becoming Director. The man is a legend, and you've never even heard of him.

Actually, the IISS (remember, an *independent* think-tank) is packed to the rafters with these ruling class types. The Assistant Director, for example, is Steven Simon, a former member of the US National Security Council, where he was Senior Director for Transnational Threats, (receiving them, one assumes, rather than delivering them). He also worked for the State Department. Senior Fellow for International Affairs, Nicholas Maclean is a consummate elitist, a man who graduated from Oxford with a rather meagre Honours Degree in Philosophy and Economics before going out into the real world and taking directorships in such companies as Prudential Asia Ltd. He has also worked for Midland Bank Group and has been a Chatham House Council Member... etc. etc. etc.

In other words, in the IISS, we have as clear a cross-section as one could get of the emerging global ruling class. And not a CNDer in sight.

Well, you've met the gang, now let's get back to what they have to say! According to today's report, Saddam *could* build a nuclear weapon, supposing another country with said material was charitable enough to sell it to him. In fact, according to the IISS, Saddam has sacraficed every other policy objective at the altar of acquiring a big, rather useless, nuclear weapon. If this is so, (and who are we to doubt their word), he must intend his own obliteration. As suicides go, it's one of the greats. They also point out that he has chemical agents such as VX gas and biological weapons like anthrax, (which must explain why the UN sanctions prevent the import of even such apparently harmless objects as pens and envelopes into Iraq).

Since some of you now know what I look like, it would be foolish to tire you with my own thoughts on the importance of this information. Therefore, let me trouble you with someone else's thoughts on this information, as described by the BBC:

Paul Beaver, of Jane's Defence Weekly, said the report was the best compilation of the facts he had seen.

"But there's nothing new here, no killer fact that makes me believe that we should go to war tomorrow," added Mr Beaver.

And lenin loves Beaver.

So, if there's nothing new in this report, why is it that the government is crowing so? According to the Beeb, "Downing Street has described as 'highly significant' a report from an independent think tank saying Iraq could produce a nuclear bomb within months." Not as "highly significant", we would hope, as the 'dossier' of evidence against Saddam Hussein that our PM claims to have in his back pocket. (I don't know about you, but I think I've just figured out what happened to the manuscript of Jeffrey Archer's latest novel).

Regarding said dossier, I should add that Prime Minister Tony Blair's official spokesman said debate continued about how much could be put into the dossier without jeopardising intelligence sources. Or, to put it another way, they're trying to decide how much falsity and half-truth they can slip in there without being caught.

The spokesman then proceeds, and I want you to pay very close attention to the literal meaning of these words:

"This is clearly a very serious piece of work. It has been produced without any access to intelligence materials."

Perhaps the best criticism I can render at this point is to offer it up to the reader's judgment.

We are then warned against "language fatigue" when it comes to talk of chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction owned by a rabid dictator who hates Western values and has used weapons against his *own* people, yes, his *own* people, and who has been building up nuclear weapons, or trying to, or might have been, and who, let's not forget, has chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction. Well, that could be code for saying "just remember how shit-scared you all were when we first brought this stuff up twelve years ago before all the Arms to Iraq scandals", but to say so would be utterly cynical. "We're obviously not talking about washing powder here," the spokesman added, just to clarify his point.

In case anyone is unaware of just how much of a threat Saddam Hussein poses, let us recall the words of Scott Ritter, former UNSCOM weapons inspector:

Ritter wrote in Arms Control Today (June 2000 – hereafter ACT) that by 1998, Iraq ‘no longer possessed any meaningful quantities of chemical or biological agent, if it possessed any at all, and the industrial means to produce these agents had either been eliminated or were subject to stringent monitoring’. Ditto Iraq’s nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities. (ACT)

He added:

‘By the end of 1998, Iraq had, in fact, been disarmed to a level unprecedented in modern history’ and ‘as long as monitoring inspections remained in place, Iraq presented a WMD-based threat to no-one’ (ACT).

Now there are plenty of reasons to distrust someone like Scott Ritter. For one thing, he's American, and you can't trust those people. For another, he's American. More importantly, he voted for George W. Bush as President and consequently belongs to a small minority of antidemocratic extremists. However, others are also sceptical about just how big and scary Hussein's weapon is.

Hans Blix, head of UNMOVIC, the new UN weapons inspection agency which has replaced UNSCOM, has said he ‘does not accept as fact the US and UK’s repeated assertions that Baghdad has used the time to rebuild its weapons of mass destruction’: ‘"It would be inappropriate for me to accept and adopt this position, but it would also be naïve of me to conclude that there may be no veracity – of course it is possible, I won’t go as far as saying probable," Mr Blix said.’ (Financial Times, 7 Mar. 2002, p. 20)

As far as nuclear weaponry goes, Ritter points out that the ‘massive infrastructure’ Iraq had built up in its nuclear weapons programme ‘had been eliminated by 1995’ by the IAEA. Even if some components have been retained, ‘it would be of no use to Iraq given the extent to which Iraq’s nuclear program was dismantled by the IAEA’. (ACT)

Entirely irresponsible claims to be making at this time, I am sure, but they nonetheless make me wonder if Hussein really is "the new Adolf Hitler" as any member of the "Enemy of the Month Club" must be before gaining admittance.