Powell’s evidence: Unbelievable and Incredible!

These were the “credible intelligence sources” referred to by the US Secretary of State, sources which he claimed were “magnificent” and which were supposed to lay the foundation for a war against Iraq.

The documentation in question is a nineteen-page report supplied by British Prime Minister Tony Blair to the US administration, which had been ordered from MI6, the British secret services for external operations, by Mr. Blair’s advisor, Alistair Campbell.

Professor Glen Rangwala of Cambridge University, in the United Kingdom, could hardly believe his ears when he heard Colin Powell’s speech and the “evidence” he was presenting. He had heard it all before, in 1991, because it was the thesis of a student of his, Ibrahim Al-Marash, now himself a professor working in California.

Ten of the nineteen pages of this “magnificent” intelligence supplied by the British had been copied, complete with spelling mistakes, from the thesis document. The other nine pages are copied and pasted from defence magazines readily available on the Internet, such as Jane’s Defence Weekly.

The text from the copied thesis refers to the practice of hiding weapons of mass destruction in Mosques and private residences, much referred to in Colin Powell’s speech to highlight what Washington understands as Iraq’s policy of cheating the inspections.

The fact that eight European Heads of Government (Portugal, Spain, Italy, Denmark, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland, along with the United Kingdom’s Tony Blair) signed a letter this week supporting the American position is proof that they are wholly incompetent to be in their positions, being more motivated by a sycophantic and servile desire to be Washington’s lackeys, in return for spoils, than to render a serious and balanced service to their countries.

The fact that the UK and the USA can base a causus belli, a cause for war, knowingly, on such blatantly contrived, biased and false information is utterly incredible. It is the governments of the United States of America and the United Kingdom which are cheating the international community, or in the words of George Bush, “stiffing”.

The greed for Iraq’s oil has led what used to be credible governments into a blind quest for power, through energy, no doubt egged on by the energy lobby pulling the strings in Washington.

That the United States of America could, at least, be so careless as to present this case for war against Iraq based upon such pretexts to the UN Security Council is paramount to criminal negligence, total disrespect or utter incompetence.

The world’s policeman has been caught red-handed with his fingers in the charity box.

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY PRAVDA.Ru