Forwarded from Brian Atinsky

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

In my Conflict Resolution course tommorow, former Deputy prime Minister of
Sweden Per Ahlmark is coming to speak to us (only 7 students in the course).
I really don't know anything about him, except for a recent article he wrote
in the Jerusalem Post, where he states:

"The US liberated or protected Europeans for more than 60 years from Nazism,
communism and other mortal threats. There are few traces of that in the
current debate in EU countries; instead, anti-American sentiments have
become the philosophy of the day. A lot of people in certain European
countries, once or twice liberated by the US, even try to insult America
today in a bizarre way. President George W. Bush is sometimes seen as almost
a bigger threat to world peace than Saddam Hussein. "

"Daniel Pipes had it right in the Jerusalem Post ("Why the Left is
nonchalant about September 11," March 19) when concluding about Europe that
"none of the millions of anti-war demonstrators had a bad word to say about
Saddam Hussein, nor an iota of sympathy for those oppressed, tortured, and
murdered by his regime. Instead they vent fury against the American
president and British prime minister."

Need I say more?
He seems like a royal ass...
Anybody have any dirt I can throw at him?

He writes of Hans Blix:

And specifically info on the incident that Per Ahlmark says proves Blix's
stupidity...that while Blix headed the IAEA, he stated that Iraq had no
nuclear weapons program and then a short time later it was proven that Iraq
was within 1 year of gaining nuclear device...I know that recent reports
have been proven fake by the IAEA, but what of the 1991 incident?

To quote Per Ahlmark on this:
"Despite his grave failings as IAEA chief before 1991, Blix once again came
to lead U.N. disarmament inspectors, this time in tandem with another Swede,
Ambassador Rolf Ekeus.

Blix, na?ve and relatively ignorant about technical details -- his field is
international law -- easily is mislead. Even after the gulf war he failed to
realize that Iraqi officials, who again were assuring the United Nations
that they were hiding nothing, were but consummate liars. Indeed, Blix
believed that Iraq had no program at all for nuclear arms. David Kay,
perhaps the most effective arms inspector, insisted that he did not trust
them. But Blix reproached Kay for his attitude. You must believe in official
information, Blix implied.

The turning point came when Kay initiated inspections of suspect buildings
without notifying the Iraqis about his intentions in advance. This new,
aggressive inspection strategy had dramatic consequences: Kay discovered
material which confirmed that Iraq was only 12 to 18 months away from
producing a nuclear device.

This historic discovery ended up in a confrontation at a parking lot in
Baghdad. U.N. cars were surrounded by 200 Iraqi soldiers and a mob, ordered
out to the scene by Iraqi officials. For four days and nights the siege
continued, as Kay and his colleagues used satellite telephones to fax
crucial documents to the West."

and

"The turning point came when Kay initiated inspections of suspect buildings
without notifying the Iraqis about his intentions in advance. This new,
aggressive inspection strategy had dramatic consequences: Kay discovered
material which confirmed that Iraq was only 12 to 18 months away from
producing a nuclear device.

This historic discovery ended up in a confrontation at a parking lot in
Baghdad. U.N. cars were surrounded by 200 Iraqi soldiers and a mob, ordered
out to the scene by Iraqi officials. For four days and nights the siege
continued, as Kay and his colleagues used satellite telephones to fax
crucial documents to the West.

Blix had opposed the raid. Fortunately, Ambassador Ekeus backed it and
supported the inspectors during the siege. I have met a number of experts on
Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, and they often compare the two Swedes:
"Ekeus is brilliant," they say, "Blix is terrible."


Louis Proyect, Marxism mailing list: http://www.marxmail.org


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