Dmitry Litvinovich: Iraq is always the first to blame

Iraq and some other “cast-away” countries are making more statements threatening the world community. The American authorities have recently claimed that Iraq was working on biological weapons and avoiding international sanctions. John Bolton, U.S. Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security, said during his speech in Geneva (at the meeting of the officials from 144 countries) that Washington had other suspects as well. In particular, America suspects that Iran, Libya, and North Korea have biological arsenals. Iran set forth its rejection right away. “Despite al-Qaeda, Iraq’s program to develop the biological weapons is the most serious threat to the international security,” – Bolton said. Everyone knows that Iraq is a country taking the top position on the list of those posing a potential threat to the United States. America’s obsession to convince the world community of Iraq’s vicious plans towards the civilized world has already become the talk of the town. If something bad happens anywhere, Saddam Hussein is a good guy to blame, a whipping boy better to say.

Donald Rumsfeld, the American Minister for Defense, joined the choir to blame Iraq. Answering a question about the Philippines at yesterday’s briefing, he managed to mention the threat coming from Iraq: “It is simply evident that the terrorists in the Philippines, the al-Qaeda agents, and the people in Iraq and in other countries that sponsor terrorism have been collaborating with each other for a very long time.” Some members of the American administration, in particular Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy secretary of defense are inclined to take all measures in order to change the government in Baghdad. White House aid Condoleezza Rice did not exclude the possibility for Iraq to become one of the objects of the anti-terrorism struggle. “We do not need the events of September 11 to be repeated in order to understand that Saddam Hussein is a very dangerous person, a threat to his own people, to the region, and to us, for Hussein is full of determination to acquire weapons of mass destruction,” – she claimed.

The motives are rather simple: Iraq attacked Kuwait; therefore, it is an aggressive country. Iraq does not allow the military inspectors of the UNSCOM to enter its territory. There are also indirect facts that prove that one of the terrorists who attacted a WTC building on September 11 had a meeting with a spokesman for the Iraqi intelligence before the actual terror attack happened.

America has recently refused to ratify a protocol. Pursuant to that document, Washington was commissioned to let specialists gain access to American biological objects. Like they were told, “the national safety and the commercial secrets maybe threatened.” So, they can, but others cannot. A very interesting approach. However, this is not all. Pay attention to the list of the countries that America suspects of developing weapons of mass destruction. These are all the countries with which the States does not have “friendly relations,” to put it mildly. You can make your judgement.

Countries that do actually have the biological weapons, such as Pakistan and India, are not on that list. The laws of supreme politics do not allow one to consider these countries as a threat to the US. The situation in Pakistan is extremely tense, so the use of weapons of mass destruction is very likely to happen there. Well, we have to say thank you to America for not including Russia on the list of “bad countries.” Let’s see, if this will last long.

Dmitry Litvinovich PRAVDA.Ru

AP photo: John R. Bolton, U.S. undersecretary of state for arms control, speaks during a press conference at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Monday, Nov. 19, 2001