An open letter to the United Nations
Herewith is the full text of that email.
Sir,
Re: UN Resolution on Iraq 1441 approved by the United Nations Security Council on Friday 8th November 2002
For many years the world community has looked to the United Nations as the only viable body able to effectively work toward securing world peace, and resolving international conflicts in a non-violent manner, in accord with its Charter, and in accord with accepted ideas of the rule of law.
Since the ending of the bombing of Afghanistan by United States forces,
President Bush has toiled unceasingly toward creating a body of public
opinion that will perceive Saddam Hussein as an immediate threat to
world peace, and he has pursued this objective in a manner that offends
all reason and rational thought.
Unsubstantiated claims have been made, facts have been either distorted
or completely ignored, and language has been employed that betrays
a complete disregard for the truth and a desire to steer the populace
toward accepting a course of action dominated by inappropriate emotional
responses rather than clear and calm thought.
In September President Bush addressed the UN Assembly.
Commencing with what have become the usual claims and accusations against
Iraq, he then urged the Assembly to reaffirm its authority by approving
a course of action that will almost certainly lead to military conflict.
The implication that the only way in which the United Nations could
"reaffirm its authority" would be by approving the unmistakeable intention
of President Bush to pursue his unwarranted aggression toward Iraq
was, at the very least, questionable.
It also implies that Saddam Hussein, by being in breach of earlier
UN Resolutions, has been solely responsible for undermining that authority.
Such a claim can only carry weight if it be made from the standpoint
of respectfulness and willing submission to the authority that is
in question.
Such was not so in this case. For President Bush then made it abundantly
clear that, were the UN not to act in a manner that suited his own
purposes, he would proceed with unilateral action anyway.
That such a threat could be made, and by one who should be as an example
to the entire civilised world, is unbelievable.
That it should be made and allowed to stand unremarked, uncontested,
and without admonishment from the Assembly, has done more to undermine
that same authority than anything that Saddam Hussein has so far done,
or failed to do.
Moreover, that such behaviour should be indulged by a world leader
who has already rejected the jurisdiction of the International Criminal
Court over the population of his own country lends credibility to
the argument that America, under the leadership of President Bush,
is rapidly becoming a rogue nation.
Thus it is with great dismay that ordinary people have watched the
UN move toward its present position of having approved SCR 1441 for,
in so doing, it has effectively legitimised a course of action that
is completely contrary to the high ideals that it is supposed to embody.
To imagine otherwise is naive in the extreme.
There is no doubt that Iraq, and the world at large, would probably be a somewhat safer place were Saddam Hussein not in office. But no evidence has been presented that indicates Saddam Hussein represents the level of threat to world peace as that suggested by President Bush, nor that any threat he may represent requires urgent action that pre-empts the possibility of more cautious or considered approaches.
Whilst I respect the office you hold, and the obligation you have to
fulfill your duty to that office, you are first and foremost a human
being, and I speak to you now as one human being to another. Can you,
in all conscience, simply renege on your commitment to world peace
by allowing President Bush to pursue his militaristic intentions unhindered?
For whilst SCR 1441 may have been presented to the world as a way
out of the terrible situation that has been engineered by President
Bush, no perceptive and intelligent person can really believe it is
anything other than a ruse to transform what would have been an illegal
war into a "legal" one; that it can never be just goes without saying
— an unfortunate divergence of legality and justice.
In other words, the entire charade represents a cynical manipulation
of established procedures to fuel the ongoing propaganda that is crafted
to disguise an otherwise totally unjustifiable course of action.
That Saddam Hussein should have agreed to comply with the requirements of SCR 1441 is indicative of nothing other than a necessary bowing to the continuing threats and provocations of President Bush, as a weaker nation must inevitably bow to the bullying of a stronger one.
But to claim that SCR 1441 offers a device whereby Saddam Hussein may
demonstrate his lack of ill-intent is disingenuous, as even a cursory
analysis of the Resolution will reveal.
For its terms are such as to be virtually impossible of fulfillment
without surrender of sovereignty and, given President Bush's trumpeting
of his possession of "intelligence" with which Saddam Hussein's declaration
to be submitted on 8th December must be in accord, there is now in
place a situation that virtually guarantees he will be unable to satisfy
the demands made of him.
How people of good intent could have become party to such a despicable
and shameful trap-laying exercise defies belief.
At this point I shall not burden you with a mass of references to material
that substantiates the salient points of my argument, for it is inconceivable
that the United Nations Assembly and the members of the Security Council
would not have availed themselves of all the evidences that indicate
the falsity of President Bush's proclaimed motives.
Thus the inclusion of such references would be both superfluous and
insulting.
Be assured however that should they be requested I would be only too happy to provide them, for nothing I have claimed herein has been unconsidered or without research.
Thus, and in conclusion, I appeal to you to consider your position very carefully, and to closely monitor the unfolding of developments in this for, the UN Security Council remaining seized of the matter, any subsequent unilateral action by President Bush, upon whatever pretext, would surely itself constitute a profound denial of the spirit through which the UN came into being.
I am,
yours sincerely,
