The Guardian: US official prevented investigation into Iraq WMDs
Regional-USA, Politics, 6/13/2005

Regarding reports that the US manipulated facts to create pretext to invade Iraq, a report by the Guardian sheds light on some US efforts in this regard.

The UK's The Guardian reported on June 5th that U.S. undersecretary of state John R. Bolton flew to Europe in 2002 to "confront the head of a global arms-control agency and demand he resign, then orchestrated the firing of the unwilling diplomat in a move a U.N. tribunal has since judged unlawful, according to officials involved."

The Guardian reported "A former Bolton deputy says the U.S. undersecretary of state felt Jose Bustani 'had to go,' particularly because the Brazilian was trying to send chemical weapons inspectors to Baghdad. That might have helped defuse the crisis over alleged Iraqi weapons and undermined a U.S. rationale for war."

The Guradian report said: Bustani, who says he got a "menacing" phone call from Bolton at one point, was removed by a vote of just one-third of member nations at an unusual special session of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), at which the United States cited alleged mismanagement in calling for his ouster. The United Nations' highest administrative tribunal later condemned the action as an "unacceptable violation'' of principles protecting international civil servants. The OPCW session's Swiss chairman now calls it an "unfortunate precedent'' and Bustani a "man with merit.''

The Guradian said "The Iraq connection to the OPCW affair comes as fresh evidence surfaces that the Bush administration was intent from early on to pursue military and not diplomatic action against Saddam Hussein's regime. An official British document, disclosed last month, said Prime Minister Tony Blair agreed in April 2002 to join in an eventual U.S. attack on Iraq. Two weeks later, Bustani was ousted, with British help."

The Guardian added: "But Ralph Earle, a veteran U.S. arms negotiator, told AP (Associated Press) that he and others in Bolton's arms-control bureau grew unhappy with what they considered Bustani's mismanagement. The agency chief also "had a big ego. He did things on his own,'' and wasn't responsive to U.S. and other countries' positions, said Earle, now retired. Both Earle and career diplomat Avis Bohlen, who retired in June 2002 as a top Bolton deputy, said the idea to remove Bustani did not originate with the undersecretary. But Bolton "leaped on it enthusiastically,'' Bohlen recalled. "He was very much in charge of the whole campaign,'' she said, and Bustani's initiative on Iraq seemed the "coup de grace.'' "It was that that made Bolton decide he had to go,'' Bohlen said."

The Guardian said "Bustani's inspectors would have found nothing, because Iraq's chemical weapons were destroyed in the early 1990s. That would have undercut the U.S. rationale for war because the Bush administration by early 2002 was claiming, without hard evidence, that Baghdad still had such an arms program."

The Guardian reported: Former Bustani aide Bob Rigg, a New Zealander, sees a clear U.S. motivation: "Why did they not want OPCW involved in Iraq? They felt they couldn't rely on OPCW to come up with the findings the U.S. wanted.''

Previous Stories:
  US Senate to hold hearings on Guantanamo detainees   (6/10/2005)
  Bush and Blair assertions in direct conflict with secret memo on attacking Iraq   (6/8/2005)
  The Sunday Times: US and UK manipulated intelligence in order to attack Iraq, causes inquiry   (6/7/2005)

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