Kofi Annan's response to a BBC interviewer that the US led war in Iraq is "illegal" should be the emancipation declaration for all Iraqis. Rise up and throw out your illegal foreign masters!
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Tremble tyrants. The Slaves are freed!
Paul K Jamieson Vancouver, BC Canada ©pkj.ca2004
Kofi Annan’s interview with the BBC last week might have disappeared into the morass of daily media, if not for a few sentences which now can be nailed into the pages of history for all eternity.
In answering the BBC interviewer’s question about the US led invasion of Iraq, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan replied, “ I have stated clearly that it was not in conformity with the Security Council - with the UN Charter.”
Q: It was illegal?
Annan: Yes, if you wish.
Q: It was illegal?
Annan: Yes, I have indicated it is not in conformity with the UN Charter, from our point of view and from the Charter point of view it was illegal.
There it is then.
This little paragraph should now be cut out and covered in scotch-tape and kept in the pocket of every Iraqi fighting the American occupation.
It also means that everything the United States and the United Kingdom has done in Iraq, done to Iraq, and is planning to do for Iraq is illegal.
So, out with Iyad Allawi. The former Mukhabarat spy for Saddam, then MI-6 spy, then CIA spy, now Iraqi Prime Minister.
Australia’s leading broadsheet, The Sydney Morning Herald, broke a story over a month ago that Allawi had personally executed six detainees to show to his newly minted police forces that a tougher hand could be allowed in his new Iraq.
This week though, saw Iyad Allawi sitting in the United Nations General Assembly, shaking hands with Israeli Foreign Minister Sylvan Shalom, and listening passively to the speech given by George W. Bush.
Bush’s speech to the UN General Assembly was like the barking of a neutered dog. Loud and furious, but empty and meaningless.
With the comments of Annan in everyone’s minds, how could the Bush speech hope to hold any credibility?
Kofi Annan was also able to skewer the United States directly at the UN General Assembly today when he spoke before Bush, and made reference to the abuse of law at the Abu Ghraib prison.
This signals a new stage in international relations. It is now clear that the United States is a rogue nation, wilfully operating outside International Law.
The moral beacon on the hill has instead opted to be hated and feared across the globe.
This must run head on into the constant cry from George W. Bush that the United States is bent on a global mission to free the world.
To George W. Bush’s way of thinking, “hate” and “free” are synonyms; that beheaded American hostages are a sign that democracy is on the move in Iraq; that the booming opium trade and resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan is another sign that the October elections in that failed country will somehow rescue the population from their crushing poverty and hopelessness.
Bush’s domestic support arises from that segment of the population who similarly feel that playing within the rules of the game are wrong. That bully-power is much more effective than diplomacy. That thousands of American soldiers can go on dying or being horribly maimed indefinitely. These folks supported the Viet Nam war. They were lied to by their leaders, and lied to by the media. They can’t be blamed for being ignorant. Not at the outset. But once the protests began, once the stories, and the photographs, and articles started coming out, then there was no longer any excuse to still cling to the old beliefs. It was time to “declare victory and leave.” How about Iraq? The killing will go on there forever. How many deaths is it going to take to make America say “Uncle” this time? America likes the idea of Empire. And America is successful at picking likely targets for empire building. Weak, powerless states, rich in resources.
The United States attempted to enslave Vietnam, and failed. The United States has tried repeatedly to enslave Haiti and failed. The United States is bent on enslaving Iraq and the entire Middle East, and they will fail there too.
The fundamental flaw with America’s desire to rule the world however, is the hold over of the Slave Master mentality. The slave master can say he is good to his slaves. He can say that he lets his slaves worship freely. He says that they can have their own music. He can say anything he wants, but he is still their master. And he has enslaved them. He calls it “freedom.” They call it chains. The slave owner is a coward at heart, who, whip in hand swaggers through his plantation meting out punishment and “justice” to the slaves which do not lick his boots and thank him for his grace.
The slave master in his fancy house can never sleep securely though, because he has a whispering doubt that the slaves below in their quarters still have their own free thoughts which he cannot enslave. Oh, he tries to master their thoughts, but the people will not be enslaved by a cruel and sadistic master. They will rise up and destroy the master. It will come. It will come.
Paul K Jamieson Vancouver, BC Canada ©pkj.ca2004
Kofi Annan’s interview with the BBC last week might have disappeared into the morass of daily media, if not for a few sentences which now can be nailed into the pages of history for all eternity.
In answering the BBC interviewer’s question about the US led invasion of Iraq, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan replied, “ I have stated clearly that it was not in conformity with the Security Council - with the UN Charter.”
Q: It was illegal?
Annan: Yes, if you wish.
Q: It was illegal?
Annan: Yes, I have indicated it is not in conformity with the UN Charter, from our point of view and from the Charter point of view it was illegal.
There it is then.
This little paragraph should now be cut out and covered in scotch-tape and kept in the pocket of every Iraqi fighting the American occupation.
It also means that everything the United States and the United Kingdom has done in Iraq, done to Iraq, and is planning to do for Iraq is illegal.
So, out with Iyad Allawi. The former Mukhabarat spy for Saddam, then MI-6 spy, then CIA spy, now Iraqi Prime Minister.
Australia’s leading broadsheet, The Sydney Morning Herald, broke a story over a month ago that Allawi had personally executed six detainees to show to his newly minted police forces that a tougher hand could be allowed in his new Iraq.
This week though, saw Iyad Allawi sitting in the United Nations General Assembly, shaking hands with Israeli Foreign Minister Sylvan Shalom, and listening passively to the speech given by George W. Bush.
Bush’s speech to the UN General Assembly was like the barking of a neutered dog. Loud and furious, but empty and meaningless.
With the comments of Annan in everyone’s minds, how could the Bush speech hope to hold any credibility?
Kofi Annan was also able to skewer the United States directly at the UN General Assembly today when he spoke before Bush, and made reference to the abuse of law at the Abu Ghraib prison.
This signals a new stage in international relations. It is now clear that the United States is a rogue nation, wilfully operating outside International Law.
The moral beacon on the hill has instead opted to be hated and feared across the globe.
This must run head on into the constant cry from George W. Bush that the United States is bent on a global mission to free the world.
To George W. Bush’s way of thinking, “hate” and “free” are synonyms; that beheaded American hostages are a sign that democracy is on the move in Iraq; that the booming opium trade and resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan is another sign that the October elections in that failed country will somehow rescue the population from their crushing poverty and hopelessness.
Bush’s domestic support arises from that segment of the population who similarly feel that playing within the rules of the game are wrong. That bully-power is much more effective than diplomacy. That thousands of American soldiers can go on dying or being horribly maimed indefinitely. These folks supported the Viet Nam war. They were lied to by their leaders, and lied to by the media. They can’t be blamed for being ignorant. Not at the outset. But once the protests began, once the stories, and the photographs, and articles started coming out, then there was no longer any excuse to still cling to the old beliefs. It was time to “declare victory and leave.” How about Iraq? The killing will go on there forever. How many deaths is it going to take to make America say “Uncle” this time? America likes the idea of Empire. And America is successful at picking likely targets for empire building. Weak, powerless states, rich in resources.
The United States attempted to enslave Vietnam, and failed. The United States has tried repeatedly to enslave Haiti and failed. The United States is bent on enslaving Iraq and the entire Middle East, and they will fail there too.
The fundamental flaw with America’s desire to rule the world however, is the hold over of the Slave Master mentality. The slave master can say he is good to his slaves. He can say that he lets his slaves worship freely. He says that they can have their own music. He can say anything he wants, but he is still their master. And he has enslaved them. He calls it “freedom.” They call it chains. The slave owner is a coward at heart, who, whip in hand swaggers through his plantation meting out punishment and “justice” to the slaves which do not lick his boots and thank him for his grace.
The slave master in his fancy house can never sleep securely though, because he has a whispering doubt that the slaves below in their quarters still have their own free thoughts which he cannot enslave. Oh, he tries to master their thoughts, but the people will not be enslaved by a cruel and sadistic master. They will rise up and destroy the master. It will come. It will come.
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