Creating Pretexts

In the aftermath of September 11, powerful forces withinthe U.S. establishment have been engaged in a campaign of lies, disinformation,and speculation to pin blame for the World Trade Center attacks and the anthraxmailings on Iraq and Saddam Hussein. Over the past decade, more than a millionIraqis have died as a result of U.S. bombs and sanctions. Now, pretexts arebeing manufactured to justify targeting Iraq in "phase two" of"America’s New War."

On November 26, President Bush himself weighed in,demanding that Iraq submit to new weapons inspections.  Asked what wouldhappen if Hussein refused, Bush warned, "He'll find out."  AsBush delivered his threat, 3,000 U.S. soldiers staged provocative maneuversalong Iraq’s southern border, and U.S. planes bombed the southern Iraqiprovince of Nasiriyah.

While there’s a growing clamor within the U.S. powerstructure to topple the Hussein regime, there are differences over how and when,and what the next stage of their worldwide "war on terrorism" should be.

Targeting Iraq -- Pre-9/11
U.S. accusations against Iraq and calls to overthrow or assassinate SaddamHussein have been growing louder well before September 11. For example, U.S.officials have been unsuccessfully trying to link Iraq to Osama bin Laden sincethe 1993 attack on the World Trade Center.

In 1998, former government officials proposed a 9-pointstrategy for "bringing down Saddam and his regime," endorsed by 10 who arenow senior members of the Bush Administration--including Defense SecretaryDonald Rumsfeld and his deputy, Paul Wolfowitz. Last year’s Republican Partyplatform called for "a comprehensive plan for the removal of SaddamHussein." 

In July the Wall Street Journal reported "Seniorofficials have held almost weekly meetings on the issue to discuss whether topush for the [Hussein] government’s ouster." In August, the U.S. launchedits most savage air attack on Iraq in six months.

Post-9/11: Creating New Pretexts
With the dust and smoke from September 11 still in the air, the New YorkTimes (10/12) reported that on September 19-20, a "tight-knit group ofPentagon officials and defense experts outside government...met for 19 hours todiscuss the ramifications of the attacks of Sept. 11."  The group, knownas the "Wolfowitz cabal" agreed "on the need to turn on Iraq as soon asthe initial phase of the war against Afghanistan was over."

There was yet no evidence of Iraq involvement in theSeptember 11 attacks, and for the last decade Iraq’s focus has been apolitical campaign to end sanctions, not military attacks.  So the Pentagonplotters dispatched former CIA chief James Woolsey to London "on a mission,"according to the Times (10/12), "to gather evidence linking Mr. Husseinto the Sept. 11 attacks." 

Unleashing the Anthrax Spin Doctors
After Senator Tom Daschle announced on October 15 that his office hadreceived a letter laced with "weapons grade" anthrax, the "attackIraq" cabal and much of the media went into full disinformation howl.

On October 18, the Wall Street Journal featured noless than three articles blaming Iraq for anthrax.  Meanwhile, WashingtonPost columnist Richard Cohen screamed, "Saddam and his bloody bugs have togo," and two days later, Senators McCain and Lieberman advocated attackingIraq.

Most attempts to pin anthrax on Iraq consisted ofestablishment "experts" engaging in war-agenda-driven speculation -- withoutevidence.  When the anthrax spores in the Daschle letter and other sampleswere analyzed, they turned out to be the "Ames" strain -- developed in theU.S. -- NOT the vollum strain that Iraq had been working with (after buying itfrom a Maryland firm).

Researchers also discovered silica in the Daschle anthrax-- an agent U.S. weapons makers used to make anthrax disperse more easilythrough the air. Iraq reportedly used bentonite, which was not found.

A member of the Federation of American Scientists told theGeneva bio-weapons conference that the anthrax "was derived, almostcertainly, from a U.S. defense laboratory." (WSJ 11/21)

From "State Sponsorship" to "Lone Terrorist"
On October 18, the Wall Street Journal editorialized that Iraq wasthe "likeliest supplier" of the Daschle anthrax because "refininganthrax is a complex and time-consuming process requiring relativelysophisticated equipment."  Someone like Ted Kaczynski, the Journalargued, "couldn’t do it in his basement."

Less than a month later -- without a word of self-criticism-- the Journal (11/12) reported the opposite:  "Mounting evidencehas made the lone domestic terrorist the leading theory...The FBI thinks aperson could get the equipment needed to refine anthrax to the degree found inthe Daschle letter for as little as $2,500... Indeed, the FBI now says that ithas found 22,000 individuals or labs with access to anthrax."

On November 29, the FBI announced, without fanfare, thatescaped fugitive and right-wing anti-abortion activist Clayton Lee Waagner hadclaimed responsibility for sending more than 280 anthrax threat letters toclinics.

Hyping - or Concocting - a Meeting in Prague
Another prop of the campaign to pin September 11 and/or anthrax on Iraq is apurported meeting in Prague between Mohammed Atta and an Iraqi intelligenceagent last April.

This allegation was first floated by Woolsey in London, andaccording to the New York Times (10/20), soon after September 11 theCzech government was "asked by Washington to comb their records to determinewhether Mr. Atta met with an Iraqi diplomat or agent here."  Czechofficials "said they had told the United States they found no evidence of anysuch meeting."

Just one week later, the Czech reversed themselves andclaimed that Atta had met with an Iraqi agent in April 2001.  The Times(11/27) noted in passing, "It was unclear what prompted them to revise theirconclusions."

Massive Disinformation on Iraq’s "Weapons of MassDestruction"
Leaders of the "get Iraq" campaign increasingly argue thatIraq’s involvement in September 11 or the anthrax mailings is irrelevant:Iraq, they claim, has -- or may have -- "weapons of mass destruction,"and is therefore a "threat."

Such charges rest on a long campaign of lies anddisinformation that ignores the impact of years of UN inspections and weaponsdestruction programs, and sanctions which have crippled Iraq’s industrial andtechnical base.

The evidence, however, indicates that Iraq has been mostlydisarmed.  Earlier this year, Hans von Sponeck, the UN’s humanitariancoordinator for Iraq from 1998-2000, wrote, "Iraq today is no longer amilitary threat to anyone. Intelligence agencies know this. All the conjecturesabout weapons of mass destruction in Iraq lack evidence."

Biological Weapons Hypocrisy
Since September 11, U.S. charges have focused on Iraq’s alleged biologicalweapons capabilities. At the Geneva biological weapons conference, the U.S.claimed, "Iraq has taken advantage of three years of no UN inspections toimprove all phases of its offensive biological weapons program... The existenceof Iraq's program is beyond dispute."

Let’s leave aside for a moment the enormous hypocrisy ofthe U.S. demanding that Iraq allow intrusive weapons inspections -- whilerefusing on-site inspection of its own biological weapons facilities andsecretly developing new strains of anthrax.

All evidence suggests that Iraq’s biological weaponscapability has been minimized, if not effectively destroyed.  Former UNweapons inspector Scott Ritter writes in the Guardian (10/19/01):

"Under the most stringent on-site inspection regime inthe history of arms control, Iraq's biological weapons programmes weredismantled, destroyed or rendered harmless during the course of hundreds ofno-notice inspections. The major biological weapons production facility -- alHakum, which was responsible for producing Iraq's anthrax -- was blown up byhigh explosive charges and all its equipment destroyed. Other biologicalfacilities met the same fate if it was found that they had, at any time, beenused for research and development of biological weapons...No evidence of anthraxor any other biological agent was discovered."

A Blood-Stained Debate
At this writing, the U.S. and Russian governments have agreed to extend thecurrent sanctions regime against Iraq for another six months, with newrestrictions supposedly to follow. And the Iraqi government has rejected renewedUN weapons inspections.

It’s not clear where the U.S. rulers are heading. All agree on the need to strangle Iraq: some argue for an all-out attack now,while others fear such a move destroy the current US coalition.  A formerJordanian official warned, "If America moves to Iraq...People would start toquestion the motivation even for striking Afghanistan. People will begin tosuspect that terrorism is just a pretext."

But much is clear. First, no actual proof of Iraqiinvolvement in either September 11 or the current anthrax scare has surfaced.

Second, evidence indicates that Iraq probably does not have"weapons of mass destruction" in any significant quantities.

Third, the U.S. "free press" has again proven to beanother cog in the system’s machinery of oppression and war.

Fourth, there’s a hidden agenda in "America’s NewWar," which has nothing to do with ending "terror." That agenda isempire – maintaining U.S. domination of the oil-rich Middle East and assertingits position as the world’s number one imperialist superpower.

And finally, the U.S. is preparing more deadly assaults --of one sort or another -- against a country already losing 5,000 children amonth due to U.S. air attacks and sanctions -- a September 11 sized horror every30 days.

(Larry Everest is a correspondent for the RevolutionaryWorker newspaper and producer of the video Iraq: War Against the People(available from Revolution Books Berkeley: 510.848.1196/ revolutionbooks@earthlink.net).By arrangement with Znet.)