[Peace-discuss] Fwd: More on US attempt to dismiss Jose Bustani

Fri Apr 19 21:29:02 CDT 2002

i found nothing on CNN w/r/t the US attempts to oust Bustani from his 
position as head of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical 
Weapons, thereby removing one more roadblock for this US to rationalize 
expanding the "war" to Iraq.

See also http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Chemical-Weapons.html
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-US-Chemical-Weapons.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4395795,00.html

Although the following is directed toward UK citizens, it provides 
additional information and analysis.
If anyone else this side of 'the pond' wants to fax their thoughts to our 
appointed and elected governmental officials, some useful numbers:
Sect of State Colin Powell - Fax: 202.261.8577, email  Secretary at state.gov
Sen Peter Fitzgerald - Fax 202.228.1372 email 
senator_fitzgerald at fitzgerald.senate.gov
Sen Dick Durbin - Fax 202.228.0400, email dick at durbin.senate.gov
Rep Tim Johnson - Fax (DC) 202.226.0791 email via the US House site 
http://www.house.gov/writerep/  or johnson at timjohnsonforcongress.com

It also serves to illustrate feelings among the citizens of our ally w/r/t 
US behavior.

Regards,
Margaret

>Date: Sat, 20 Apr 2002 11:20:45 +1000
>Subject: [GSN] URGENT ANNOUNCEMENT
>
>MEDIA WORKERS AGAINST WAR - URGENT ANNOUNCEMENT
>
>Media Workers Against War urges you to act in light of the US plans to 
>bully other states into approaving the dismissal of Jose Bustani, head of 
>the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)
>
>Please join Peter Gabriel, Annie Lennox, Thom Yorke of Radiohead, Brian 
>Eno, and many other cultural figures in speaking up on an important, 
>last-minute issue.
>
>This Sunday, April 21, the United States will seek to remove Jose Bustani, 
>the head of the Organisation for
>the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), from his post. Bustani's crime 
>is essentially that he was too good at his job.  Under his lead, according 
>to the Guardian article copied below, "His inspectors have
>overseen the destruction of 2 million chemical weapons and two-thirds of 
>the world's chemical weapon
>facilities. He has so successfully cajoled reluctant nations that the 
>number of signatories to the
>convention has risen from 87 to 145 in the past five years: the fastest 
>growth rate of any multilateral
>body in recent times."
>
>But in the eyes of the US State Department, Bustani has been a nuisance. 
>First, he's attempted to treat
>the US like any other signatory to the body, and the US, not unlike its 
>enemy Iraq, is unsatisfied with the
>inspectors he's chosen. Second, he's actively working with Iraq to 
>encourage it to accept inspectors, which
>would undercut support for a second US-led Gulf War.  For these reasons, 
>the State Department wants him deposed.
>
>In a meeting this Sunday, the US will propose a vote of no confidence in 
>Bustani, even though it hasn't
>specified the exact nature of his failings. If the UK votes with the US, 
>yet another international,
>multilateral organisation will essentially become a proxy of the US 
>government.
>
>Please contact your MP immediately and urge him or her to "support 
>Director-General Bustani and an
>independent Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons."
>
>Then pass this message on to your friends and colleagues and urge them to 
>write.  Since the timing
>is so close, we need to get as many people involved as possible.
>
>Please contact your MP immediately and urge him or her to "support 
>Director-General Bustani and an
>independent Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons."
>You can do this easily at:  http://www.faxyourmp.com
>
>Or you can send your message to the Rt Hon Jack Straw MP on 020 7839 2417 -
>today!
>
>Send a letter or email to your MP. A sample letter, drafted by Brian Eno 
>and co-signed by many other
>cultural figures is copied below. Send Please act today to support an 
>important international
>institution.
>
>SAMPLE LETTER
>--------------------
>
>Dear Member of Parliament,
>
>We are writing to draw your attention to the very serious and urgent 
>matter of the impending removal of
>the Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical 
>Weapons (OPCW), Jose Bustani,
>from his post. This follows a campaign led by the United States which is 
>ultimately aimed at further
>clearing the way for an attack on Iraq. If the United States succeeds in 
>its campaign for Bustani's removal,
>it will not only be a victory for unilateralism and a blow to the 
>principles of multilateral cooperation,
>but it will also mean that the world will be brought one step closer to a 
>second Gulf War.
>
>Admittedly, this is only the latest in a series of attempts by the United 
>States to disengage from,
>undermine and override international legal instruments and multilateral 
>institutions. We have all witnessed
>the US's exceptionalism in recent years. It has refused to ratify the 
>Kyoto Protocol, and torpedoed
>the statute creating the International Criminal Court. It has opposed the 
>completion of negotiations to
>create a regime strengthening the Biological Weapons Convention, and 
>indicated its
>intention to abandon the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
>
>More recently it has "lost confidence" in the head of the International 
>Panel on Climate Change,
>coincidentally following a consultation with US energy industry 
>representatives. And after the failure of
>UNSCOM (largely the result of its use by the United States as an 
>intelligence-gathering
>instrument), there are now reports that the CIA has been investigating the 
>performance of Hans Blix, head
>of UNMOVIC, UNSCOM's successor.
>The difference this time is that the stakes are higher, and more evident. 
>The OPCW is the first ever
>global regime designed to verify the complete abolition of an entire 
>category of weapons of mass
>destruction. The Bush administration is determined to remove the man who, 
>over the last five years,
>successfully brought such alleged rogues as Iran, Sudan, Libya and Saudi 
>Arabia  into this
>multilateral disarmament regime. Bustani's mandate requires him to bring 
>as many member states as he can into this regime, and for this reason he 
>has consistently kept negotiations open with
>Iraq. In light of the Bush administration's preparations (both 
>psychological and military) for an
>attack on Iraq, these negotiations are seen as highly inconvenient. The 
>removal of Bustani would effectively
>mean the closing of one of the last peaceful routes to dealing with Iraq.
>
>Also at stake is the independence of the OPCW, and with it the 
>independence of all other international
>organisations. Their staff and directors will become vulnerable to removal 
>by a dissatisfied member state,
>as long as that member state is sufficiently powerful, financially or 
>otherwise. Bustani has repeatedly
>refused to act on the instructions of the United States in discrimination 
>against other member
>states, stating over and over that his employers are the integrity of the 
>Conference of States Parties.
>This has made him a thorn in the side of the US State Department, which 
>Bush and his team are now determined to remove. The US has made 
>unsubstantiated allegations to justify its motion of no-confidence, and 
>has declined on every occasion to provide the evidence, or even to conduct 
>a formal inquiry. Nor has it submitted any document to the Conference of 
>States Parties to support its request for a no-confidence
>motion. Given the lack of substantive motives for Bustani's removal, the 
>United States has resorted to
>character assassination in the press. And in order to ensure the success 
>of its campaign, the United States has threatened to withdraw its funding 
>of the organisation, which would leave the OPCW 22% worse
>off, and effectively crippled.
>
>The United Kingdom has, from the early days of the Convention, been an 
>exemplary member of the OPCW. As a proven leader in Europe, it now has the 
>power to rally the rest of Europe and block the United States' vote of 
>no-confidence. By making its voice heard in Washington, the United Kingdom 
>and Europe would be keeping open a peaceful and multilateral route to a 
>resolution in Iraq. More importantly, a defeat of the United States' 
>motion would put a stop to the further deterioration of the international 
>system of
>multilateral cooperation that has been built with such care and commitment 
>since the end of the Second World War.
>
>We urge you to take the lead at the Special Session of the OPCW which 
>opens on Sunday 21 April, and to ensure that morality, good sense and 
>international justice prevail.
>
>Sincerely,
>
>[Your Name]
>[Your Address]
>[Your Phone Number]
>
>
>=====
>Best wishes from the
>Media Workers Against the War editorial team
>http://www.mwaw.org