[Marxism] Fidel Castro's Reflections: One More Argument for the U.N.

["Walter Lippmann" <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Reflections by Fidel Castro 
ONE MORE ARGUMENT FOR THE U.N.
September 27, 2007

While I am working with the already famous Greenspan book, I read an
article published by El País, a Spanish newspaper with a circulation
of more than 500,000, according to reports; I would like to pass this
on to the readers. It is signed by Ernesto Ekaizer, and it literally
reads:

"Four weeks before the Iraq invasion which happened in the night of
March 19 to 20, 2003, George W. Bush publicly sustained his demands
of Saddam Hussein in the following terms: disarmament or war. In
private, Bush acknowledged that war was inevitable. In a long private
conversation with the then Spanish president, José María Aznar, held
on Saturday, February 22, 2003 at the Crawford Ranch in Texas, Bush
made it clear that the moment had come to get rid of Saddam. 'We have
two weeks. In two weeks our military will be ready. We will be in
Baghdad at the end of March', he told Aznar.

"The moment has come to get rid of Saddam.

"As part of this plan, Bush had accepted, on January 31, 2003 --after
an interview with the British Prime Minister Tony Blair-- to make a
last diplomatic manoeuvre: to introduce a second resolution to the
United Nations Security Council. His objective: to clear the way
legally for a unilateral war that the United States was getting ready
to unleash with more than 200,000 soldiers who were in the region
ready to attack.

"Bush was aware of Blair's internal difficulties and he knew of
Aznar's. Only seven days before that meeting at the Crawford Ranch,
three million people were demonstrating in several Spanish cities
against the imminent war. 'We need your help with our public
opinion', Aznar asks. Bush explains to him the scope of the new
resolution that he is going to present: 'The resolution will be
tailor made to help you. I don't care about the content'. To this,
Aznar replies: 'That text would help us to be able to co-sponsor it
and be its co-authors, and get many people to sponsor it'. Aznar,
then, offers to give Bush European coverage, together with Blair.
Aznar's dream of consolidating a relationship with the United States,
following in the footsteps of the United Kingdom, was about to become
reality.

"Aznar had travelled with his wife, Ana Botella, on February 20 to
the United States making a stopover in Mexico to persuade President
Vicente Fox -unsuccessfully- of the need to support Bush. On the
21st, the couple, accompanied by the President's assistants, arrived
in Texas. Aznar and his wife stayed at the ranch guest house.

"In the meeting on the following day, Saturday, President Bush, his
then National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, and Daniel Fried,
the chief of European Affairs at the National Security Council, were
present. Aznar, on his side, was accompanied by his international
policy advisor, Alberto Carnero and the Spanish Ambassador in
Washington, Javier Rupérez. As part of the meeting, Bush and Aznar
had a four-way telephone conversation with the British Prime Minister
Tony Blair and the Italian President Silvio Berlusconi.

"Ambassador Rupérez translated from the English for Aznar and also
from the Italian for Condoleezza Rice; another two interpreters did
the same for Bush and his collaborators. It was Rupérez who drafted
the minutes of the conversation in a memorandum that has been kept
secret until today.

"The conversation is impressive because of its direct, friendly and
even menacing tone when, for example, they refer to the necessity of
some countries like Mexico, Chile, Angola, Cameroon and Russia,
members of the UN Security Council, voting for the new resolution as
a show of friendship towards the United States or else they would
have to suffer the consequences.

"They are cautioned about zero expectations for the work of the
inspectors, whose chief, Hans Blix, had dismantled just one week
earlier, on February 14, the arguments presented by United States
Secretary of State Colin Powell at the Security Council on February
5, 2003, with 'solid facts' enthusiastically supported by the Spanish
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ana Palacio. The same facts that Powell
himself later described as a bunch of lies.

"The Blix Report

"According to Blix, Iraq was taking steps towards active cooperation
in solving the pending issue of disarmament. His tone had been less
critical than that of his report of January 27, 2003. 'Since we
arrived in Iraq three months ago we have made more than 400
inspections, with no advance warning at 300 sites. Until now, the
inspectors have found no prohibited weapons...If Iraq decides to
cooperate even more closely, the period of disarmament by the
inspections can still be short?, the chief inspector pointed out.

"The General Director of the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA), Mohamed El Baradei released information on February 14 that
there were still some technical issues left to clear up. But, he
added, 'now there are no more disarmament problems left to solve'.
According to him, absolutely no proof had been found that Iraq had
been carrying out nuclear activities or activities related to nuclear
energy, another clear lie about what Powell had stated about the
Iraqi nuclear program.

"Both the first results of the inspections and the end of the United
States preparations led Bush to set the beginning of the military
operation towards the date of March 10, 2003. Later, nine days were
added in order to get the second resolution. The process of moral
persuasion in which Aznar and Palacios worked by phone and in
bilateral meetings did not succeed in pulling in more than four
votes: those of the three promoters and Bulgaria. They needed 9
votes.

"The failure of this legal coverage for the imminent war led Bush,
with Blair and Aznar, to agree to a summit meeting in the Azores on
March 16, 2003, a place suggested by Aznar as an alternative to
Bermuda for a reason he explained to Bush: 'Just the name of these
islands suggests an item of clothing that is not exactly the most
appropriate for the seriousness of the moment in which we find
ourselves'. There, on that March 16, Blair, Bush and Aznar decided to
replace the United Nations Security Council. They usurped its
functions to declare war on Iraq at their own risk. On the morning of
March 17, the United Kingdom ambassador at the UN announced in New
York the withdrawal of the second resolution. A defeat in the voting
would have complicated even further the race towards war."

Fidel Castro Ruz
September 27, 2007.
7:25 p.m.


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