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US Led Invasion of Iraq threatens Future of Humanity

by Michel Chossudovsky

www.globalresearch.ca,    11  February /f�vrier 2003

The URL of this article is: http://globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO302A.html


English text of Michel Chossudovsky's Speech in Germany (Nuremberg, Stuttgart, Munich) and Austria (Innsbruck), 28 January - 4 February 2003.

 For text in German click here.


We are the juncture of the most serious crisis in modern history.

In the wake of the tragic events of September 11, the Bush Administration has embarked upon a military adventure which threatens the future of humanity.

This is the largest military operation since the Second World War.

According to the Pentagon, a quarter of a million troops, made up of the various coalition forces, will be involved in the invasion of Iraq.

Sophisticated deadly high tech "star wars" weapons are to be used.

The US does not exclude the use of nuclear weapons, as a basis for self defense,

In fact, the Bush administration has stated that the "mini-nukes", so-called tactical nuclear weapons do not harm civilians.

This is a lie. It is part of their propaganda apparatus.

They have even said they could use nuclear weapons against Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda.

In other words, Bush does not exclude the preemptive use of nuclear weapons on a first strike basis.

The IPPNW has estimated 500.000 deaths in the case of a conventional war against Iraq. 3.9 million if nuclear weapons are used.

Washington's stated objective is not "to restore democracy", but to set up a US military government in Iraq similar to that established in Japan after World War II.

The Iraqi economy will be re-vamped. The country's extensive oil wealth will be taken over by the Anglo-American oil giants.

Neoliberalism is part of the war agenda.

The IMF and the World Bank will be invited in to help Iraq in its "post-war reconstruction."

A war against Iraq will engulf a much larger region, extending from the Mediterranean, across the Middle East to Central Asia, integrating several war theatres. . Moreover, the Pentagon has confirmed that Iraq is first and then Iran. its intention is to eventually extend the military campaign into Iran.

The 1995 National security document of the Clinton administration states that the objective of this war is oil.

"to protect the United States' uninterrupted, secure U.S. access to oil.

How does the war in Iraq relate to Palestine.

The ongoing war waged by Israel against the Palestinian people is part and parcel of America's New War strategy.

There are already several war theaters in this region including Iraq, Palestine and Afghanistan.

US military bases have been set up in several former Soviet republics on China's western frontier.

Israel is part of the Anglo-US military axis.

An invasion of Iraq will inevitably trigger a broader war throughout the Middle East in which Israel would definitively be aligned with the Anglo-American military axis.

Israel is the fifth nuclear power in the World. Its nuclear arsenal is more advanced than that of Britain.

Israel's nuclear warheads are pointed at Baghdad and major cities in the Middle East.

How does the Bush administration justify its decision to go to war? It presents this war as a "humanitarian objective" The Bush administration has invoked Self-Defence: The Pretext for Waging War is that "America is under Attack." War is necessary to safeguard World peace.

The war against Iraq is presented as a pre-emptive operation to "defend ourselves" against terrorists and rogue states.

The Weapons of Mass Destruction is a Pretext, a Fabrication. The US, not Iraq, is a threat to World Peace.

The Us is the largest producer of Weapons of Mass Destruction

Is September 11 relevant to an understanding this war?

The Bush administration requires legitimacy in the eyes of World public opinion, , that in launching the war in Iraq, it is acting in response to the tragic events of September 11.

Sept 11 is a crucial part of the propaganda campaign

In this regard, President Bush in a recent speech has linked Saddam Hussein to Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda:

"We know that Iraq and the al Qaeda terrorist network share a common enemy -- the United States of America. We know that Iraq and al Qaeda have had high-level contacts that go back a decade. Some al Qaeda leaders who fled Afghanistan went to Iraq

The British government of Tony Blair is also linking Osama to Iraq.

Who is Osama bin Laden.

To whom is he linked to. There is no evidence that he has links to Iraq.

There is lots of evidence, including piles of official documents and intelligence reports that Osama bin Laden is linked to the US government.

That the US government is protecting Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda.

Osama is a creation of the CIA going back to the Soviet Afghan war. He is called an intelligence asset. Al Qaeda is used as part of the CIA's covert intelligence operations.

The so-called "war on terrorism" is a complete fabrication based on the illusion that one man, Osama bin Laden, outwitted the $30 billion-a-year American intelligence apparatus.

The "war on terrorism" is a war of economic conquest.

War and Globalisation go hand in hand. War extends the frontier of the World market economy. War is part of the neoliberal policy agenda.

The "New World Order" is dominated by Wall Street, the oil companies and the U.S. military-industrial complex.

September 11, 2001 was the moment the Bush Administration had been waiting for, what David Rockefeller called the "useful crisis" which provided a pretext for waging a war without borders.

Osama bin Laden is a key image in the Bush Administration's propaganda campaign.

The evidence presented below confirms that the Bush Administration (rather than Iraq) has supported and abetted international terrorism:

Let us look at some of these Links between the US Government and Al Qaeda The evidence from official sources confirms that Al Qaeda is supported by Pakistan's military intelligence, the Inter-services Intelligence (ISI). The ISI has supported many terrorist organisations Amply documented, the ISI is supported by the CIA and there are close links between the two agencies The 9-11 terrorists did not act on their own volition.

The suicide hijackers were instruments in a carefully planned intelligence operation. And it was not Iraq but America's ally Pakistan who supported Al Qaeda. In fact, the evidence points to the involvement of Pakistan's ISI.

Moreover, official documents including Congressional transcripts confirm that Al Qaeda is in fact a creation of the CIA, namely an "intelligence asset".

Since the Soviet-Afghan war and throughout the post-Cold war era, "the militant Islamic base" has been used by successive US administrations to wage covert operations in the former Soviet Union and the Balkans.

In the course of the 1990s, agencies of the US government have collaborated with Al Qaeda in a number of covert operations, as confirmed by a 1997 report of the Republican Party Committee of the US Congress:

In other words, the Republican Party Committee report confirms unequivocally the complicity of the Clinton administration with several Islamic fundamentalist organizations including Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda.

In fact during the war in Bosnia US weapons inspectors were working with Al Qaeda operatives, bringing in large amounts of weapons for the Bosnian Muslim Army

In other words, the Clinton Administration was "harboring terrorists".

But the Bush Administration was also harbouring, protecting bin Laden's Al Qaeda. The US government and NATO had links to Al Qaeda in Macedonia. And this happened barely a few weeks before September 11, 2001, Senior U.S. military advisers from a private mercenary outfit on contract to the Pentagon, were fighting alongside Mujahideen in the terrorist attacks on the Macedonian Security forces. This is documented by the Macedonian press and statements made by the Macedonian authorities,

The U.S. government and the Islamic Militant Network were working hand in glove in supporting and financing the National Liberation Army (NLA), which was involved in the terrorist attacks in Macedonia.

The US military was collaborating directly with Al Qaeda barely a few weeks before 9/11.

More specifically with regard to the September 11 attacks, The FBI confirmed in late September 2001 that the 9-11 ring leader, Mohammed Atta, had been financed by Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence the ISI.

A later report confirmed that then head of the ISI General Mahmoud Ahmad has transferred the money to Mohammed Atta.

Now it just so happens that this same individual who transferred money to the September 11 terrorists was an official visit to the US from the 4th to 13th of September,

The same individual who transferred money to the terrorists had a close personal relationship with a number of senior Bush Administration officials.

The General met Colin Powell, CIA Director George Tenet, Deputy Secretary Richard Armitage. He had links to Colin Powell, he had links to Mohammed Atta.

The Bush Administration is waging a war against terrorism, yet the evidence suggests that the US government is supporting Islamic terrorism.

People around the World oppose the war. We welcome the decision of the German government to oppose this war. This is a historic decision.

But it is not sufficient to oppose the war. We must question the legitimacy of the Bush Administration.

We must question its right to rule. We must unseat the war criminals. Because they are in violation of international law including the Nuremberg charter. The Bush Adminstration will wage this war, whether it has the support of public opinion or not.

A necessary condition for bringing down the rulers is to weaken and eventually dismantle their propaganda campaign.

The momentum and success of the large anti-war rallies in the US, the European Union and around the world, should lay the foundations of a permanent network composed of tens of thousands of local level anti-war committees in neighborhoods, work places, parishes, schools, universities, etc. It is ultimately through this network that the legitimacy of those who "rule in our name will be challenged.

To shunt the Bush Administration's war plans and disable its propaganda machine, we must, in the months ahead reach out to our fellow citizens across the land, in the US, Europe and around the world, to the millions of ordinary people who have been misled on the causes and consequences of this war,

This implies fully uncovering the lies behind the � war on terrorism� and revealing the political complicity of the Bush adminstration in the events of 9/11.

This is a big hoax,

it's the biggest lie in US history,

The war pretext does not stick and the rulers in the US and Britain should be removed.

And people in Germany and Austria and the European Union will support the antiwar movements in the US to ultimately reach this objective.

In the next few weeks we must stop the invasion of Iraq


 Professor of Economics, University of Ottawa, Director of the Centre for Research on Globalization.  Copyright  Michel Chossudovsky  2003. 


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