US War Plans are Not Helped by Blix
by
Robert Fisk
Dissident Voice
March 8, 2003
Oh,
for the ice-cold Swedish eye on the Middle East. Ah, for the freezing
Scandinavian vision of truth. Hans Blix, everybody's headmaster, delivered his
school report yesterday with enough fairness to outrage both pupil – Iraq – and
parent, ultimately the US.
Yes, Iraq had provided the
names of relevant scientists, but "only a few documents had come to light
– a disappointment". And on Iraq's destruction of al-Samoud 2 missiles – a
"substantial measure of disarmament" – a Swedish bon mot. "We
are not watching the destruction of toothpicks," Mr Blix said. Toothpicks,
indeed.
Words of truly Nordic
neutrality followed: "reluctant co-operation", "soberly
judged", "immediate co-operation" (which was not obtained),
"a considerable volume of documents". The famous aluminium tubes
turned out – if one believes Mr Blix, and why not – to have nothing to do with
nuclear weapons (goodbye, the British intelligence file). And – if you believe
Mohamed al-Baradei, and again why not – quite a number of other US documents are
lies. But the words from this most intransigent of Swedes to most enrage the
warmongers were: "We intend to continue our inspection activities."
You could almost hear the
roar of fury from the Americans. Saddam has lied; the UN hasn't found the
weapons. The UN doesn't know how to find them. Alas for President Bush, the UN
was urged to go to Iraq last year by ... President Bush.
He thought Saddam would not
allow inspectors to land in Iraq. Saddam let the inspectors in – so the
inspectors must now be trashed by Washington. Not an easy task when Mr Blix –
the archetypal, friendly Swedish bear – is in charge.
The words were no help to US
war plans. "Plausible ... verifiable ... progress," he said of his
mission. All words the US would welcome if they wanted the inspectors to
succeed. Hence the statement from Joschka Fischer, the German Foreign Minister:
"We see no need for a second resolution." Which, of course, was the
view of the French and the Russians – and Mr Blix. So, Mr Blix, watch out.
Colin Powell didn't seem
quite ready for the report, though there was plenty of talk of "criminal
evidence", of "lying and deceit", along with some new phrases:
"cluster of questions" and "tens of thousands [sic] of delivery
systems".
Yes, Mr Powell, who picked
up the "toothpicks" metaphor, liked Iraq's co-operation – he could
scarcely say otherwise – but added he was "sorry to learn that this is
coming in a grudging manner".
The two words not mentioned were those of the countries whose people are really killing each other: Israel and Palestine. Alas, that would have muddied the waters – and introduced an element of reality to this frozen debate at the UN.
Robert Fisk is an award winning foreign
correspondent for The Independent
(UK), where this article first appeared. He is the author of Pity Thy
Nation: The Abduction of Lebanon (The Nation Books, 2002 edition)