[R-G] Both Houses of Parliament [U.K.] - One Question

[Nick Morcinek]

 Please pass this around!

 
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5858.htm

Both Houses of Parliament - One Question
Geoffrey Holland

03/15/04 "ICH" - There is now a call in both British Houses of 
Parliament to report the United States to the United Nations Security 
Council for breaching the Geneva Biological and Toxin Weapons 
Convention by supplying Saddam Hussein with the very biological 
materials which were the basis for war in Iraq.

On March 17 last year, The Rt Hon Robin Cook MP, former Leader of the 
House of Commons, revealed in his principled resignation speech that 
"US Companies sold Saddam anthrax agents." The following day, a vote 
in the Commons committed Britain to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with 
the US in the invasion of Iraq - an invasion largely predicated upon 
Iraq's possession of such biological materials.

For the past year, whilst the attention of most of the world has been 
focused upon finding those weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, 
British MPs have been examining the evidence upon which Robin Cook 
made his claim. Finding that the evidence exists, of all places, in 
the US Congressional Record, placed there by Senator Robert C Byrd on 
September 20 2002, there can be little doubt as to its veracity.

Consequently, Early Day Motion 300 has been tabled in the House of 
Commons, which calls upon the British Government to formally report 
the US breach of the Geneva Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention 
to the Security Council of the United Nations. This Commons Motion, 
entitled 'Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention and Iraq' has now 
been signed by 105 MPs from six political Parties.

The Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention is a vitally important 
international law, which forbids the transfer to any recipient of 
biological agents "that have no justification for prophylactic, 
protective or other peaceful purposes". As Sir Teddy Taylor MP stated 
to the House of Commons the day following Robin Cook's original 
statement, "It is difficult to prove that one wants to use a material 
such as anthrax to help in the improvement of animals, or to achieve 
better forms of production."

On Monday 15 March 2004 at 2.30pm, The Lord Bishop of Oxford Richard 
Harries brings the issue into the House of Lords, where the following 
question is the first item of business on the agenda:

"To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, in accordance with the 
Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, they will report to the 
Security Council of the United Nations the reported sale of 
biological weapons to Iraq by the United States."

As Sir Teddy Taylor stated to the House of Commons one year ago: "It 
is abundantly clear that the US Department of Commerce approved every 
single thing that went from the United States to Iraq. It was not a 
question of secret firms doing nasty things; this was approved by 
Government." Today, there is a call in both Houses Parliament for the 
British Government to act responsibly and make this unpalatable truth 
public.

This is not a case of United States-bashing. Far from it. The 
American people have simply been duped, as has much of the rest of 
the world. It is our collective duty to ensure that the wise words to 
the US Senate of the eighty-five-year-old Father of the Senate Robert 
C Byrd on September 20 2002 are at last heeded: "We do not need 
obfuscation and denial. The American People need the truth."

May the combined efforts of both Houses of the British Parliament 
finally bring the truth about weapons of mass destruction not just to 
the American people, but to the entire world. And may we thus ensure 
that UK Policy is adhered to, namely that "those at every level 
responsible for any breach of international law relating to the use 
of such weapons will be held personally accountable".

To see what transpires in the House of Lords on Monday 15 March when 
the Bishop of Oxford challenges the Government, go to:

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld199900/ldhansrd/pdvn/home.htm

To read the text of EDM 300 and to check whether or not your MP has 
signed, see: http://edm.ais.co.uk/weblink/html/motion.html/ref=300

If your MP has not yet signed, please write and ask that they do so 
now, either by letter to:
The House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA,
or by e-mail, via: http://www.locata.co.uk/commons/

If you care, please make your voice heard now.

Copyright: Geoffrey Holland <geoffreyholland2001 at yahoo.co.uk>