[A-List] US, UK imperialism: Iraq

[Michael Keaney]

Allies bomb Iraqi 'oil complex'
ROB CRILLY
The Herald, 2 December 2002

AMERICAN and British warplanes attacked targets in Basra in southern Iraq
yesterday as the government prepared to step up the propaganda war against
Saddam Hussein.

The Iraqis claimed the bombs struck an oil installation, killing four people
and injuring 27. However, a US military spokesman said coalition aircraft
had targeted air defence sites after they came under fire in the northern
no-fly zone.

An official from the Southern Oil Company said the warplanes attacked
offices and that civilian staff were among the "martyred" and injured.

The raid was on the eve of publication of allegations that Saddam's regime
is guilty of systematic torture and rape.

In a speech today, Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, will describe the
dossier as a "harrowing" account of human rights abuses, saying: "It is the
most detailed account the government has ever published about this,
including intelligence material, first-hand accounts of Iraqi victims of
torture and oppression, and reports by NGOs.

Weapons inspectors yesterday searched a semi-derelict airfield near Baghdad,
once the site of a biological weapons plant, as well as military complexes
associated with nuclear programmes.

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Straw to reveal dossier of Iraqi torture
ROB CRILLY
The Herald, 2 December 2002

A SECOND front in the propaganda war against Iraq will be opened today with
publication of a dossier accusing the Baghdad regime of torture, rape, and
systematic human rights abuses just days before Saddam Hussein must declare
any remaining weapons of mass destruction.

Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, will publish a report containing
first-hand accounts by Iraqi victims of human rights abuses, as well as
intelligence material and evidence from aid charities working in Iraq.

In a speech to the Atlantic Partnership, a group that works on improving
relations between Europe and North America, Mr Straw will make it clear that
the abuses were carried out as a policy of the Iraqi dictator.

The foreign secretary will launch the report on internal oppression six days
before Baghdad must submit a full declaration of its chemical, biological,
and nuclear weapons or face "serious consequences" under UN resolution 1441.

He is expected to say that by disarming Iraq "we not only help those
countries in the region which are subject to Iraqi threats and intimidation,
we also deprive Saddam of his most powerful tools for keeping the Iraqi
people living in fear and subjugation".

Mr Straw will add: "The aim is to remind the world that the abuses of the
Iraqi regime extend far beyond its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction in
violation of its international obligations.

"The dossier makes for harrowing reading, with accounts of torture, rape,
and other horrific human rights abuses. It makes it clear these are carried
out as part of the deliberate policy of the regime."

The US and UK maintain that Saddam has been building and stockpiling weapons
of mass destruction.

A team of UN inspectors is in Iraq checking suspected arms sites.

Yesterday, the head of the International Atomic Energy Authority said the
inspectors were far from reaching a conclusion about the extent of Iraq's
weapons programme.

Mohamed El Baradei said the UN team had been allowed unfettered access to
suspected sites and nothing incriminating had been found so far.

"We are off to a good start but we are still far from reaching a
conclusion," said Dr El Baradei.

"So far we have been getting good Iraqi co-operation, but it's a long road
ahead of us."

It would probably take his team "around a year" before it could come to a
reasonable conclusion that Iraq did not possess the capability to have
nuclear weapons, Dr El Baradei added.

Last night Menzies Campbell, Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman,
said that the government's dossier and distaste for Saddam Hussein should
not be allowed to obscure the Iraqi leader's obligation to the UN.

"No-one doubts the barbarism of Saddam Hussein. The issue is whether or not
he will fulfil his obligations under the security council resolution."