| Author | Message | | Guest | | Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2002 11:39 pm Post subject: Iraqi Minister Claims U.S. (and Israel) Wants War... |
| Iraqi Minister Claims U.S. (and Israel) Wants War to Control Gulf Region
We need to distribute the following EVERYWHERE as soon as possible (it was on ABC's "Nightline" last night):
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/nightline/DailyNews/aziz_interview1_021204.html
‘Imperialist Purposes’:
Iraqi Minister Claims U.S. (and Israel) Wants War in Order to Control Gulf Region
TED KOPPEL: We're in the offices of the Council of Ministers here in Baghdad, and I'm joined here by the deputy prime minister of Iraq, Dr. Tariq Aziz. The declaration will be delivered on Saturday? TARIQ AZIZ: Yeah, on the 7th of December, yeah. KOPPEL: And it will be comprehensive? AZIZ: It will, according to, you know, Mr. Blix and Dr. Baradei were here in Baghdad, and they specify what they wanted to know from Iraq, and our Iraqi staff are ready to put it on the paper and send it, deliver it to UNMOVIC and to the IAEA on Saturday. KOPPEL: I'm told that it contains lots of information about dual-use facilities and chemical, biological and nuclear. AZIZ: You know, the fact is that we don't have weapons of mass destruction. We don't have chemical, biological or nuclear weaponry, but we have equipment which were defined as dual use. That equipment were under inspection and monitoring before the inspectors left. Of course, they are used for civilian purposes, and we have to declare how they were used during the last four years to UNMOVIC and to the IAEA. KOPPEL: So you're saying there were, there are no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? AZIZ: Yes. Absolutely, yes. KOPPEL: Because only today one of the UNMOVIC teams, as you probably know, found some mustard gas. AZIZ: Where? KOPPEL: At the site that they visited today. AZIZ: I don't think so. I don't have such information. KOPPEL: They found numerous shells that were left over from the last inspection. AZIZ: No, this is an old, this is an old story, you see. There were some shells which belonged to the '80s and … KOPPEL: [Inaudible.] AZIZ: They belonged to the '80s, you see. KOPPEL: Oh, the '80s. AZIZ: Yeah, and there are not weapons there no more. There are not weapons. They are no more dangerous, you see, and they know, they know about them because the inspectors knew about them at that time, and they are not weapons, you see. KOPPEL: We've heard reports that some of your scientists have been told to take crucial papers into their homes so that they won't be found. AZIZ: Are they seeking weapons of mass destruction or are they seeking papers? KOPPEL: Evidence of weapons of mass destruction, evidence that you are continuing to produce weapons of mass destruction. AZIZ: We have not produced them. They can, you know, science, modern science, can detect any activity, nuclear, chemical and biological areas. If there was an activity in this room 10 years ago, it could be detected by certain sensors. So they don't have to go and search each and every house in Iraq in order to be sure because if you produce weapons in factories, go to the factory, get the sensors with you, and that will show whether there was a production a year ago, a month ago, 10 years ago, and that will lead you to the truth. KOPPEL: U.S. intelligence believes that some of your biological labs have now been made mobile, that there are trucks that are biological laboratories … AZIZ: They can say anything. Of course, they have to, to, to make these lies in order to sell their own policy, which is not true, you see. KOPPEL: The Declaration that you will deliver on the 7th, do you think that makes the possibility of war more likely or less likely? AZIZ: Well, my guess, my conviction is that the war is not because of weapons of mass destruction because the whole issue of weapons of mass destruction is a hoax. It has been used as a pretext in order to wage a war against Iraq. When they find that there are no weapons of mass destruction, they will use another pretext to attack. There is a plan to attack Iraq. There is a plan not to regime change in Iraq. There is a plan for region change, the whole region, to serve the imperialist purposes of the United States and to serve the purposes of Israel. KOPPEL: Is it your conviction, then, that no matter what happens with these inspectors, no matter how long the inspections take place, that there will be a war anyway? AZIZ: Well, my conviction is that the inspectors' presence in Iraq will not be the major fact in preventing the war. The major fact will be the international development against the war. If America can find allies to wage this war, if it can find concrete assistance from a number of countries in the region and the world, they will go on with the war, you see, and find a pretext for that. But if they fail to do that, that will be a problem for them. To what extent that problem is going to prevent the administration from going on with its policies, I cannot judge now. I cannot. KOPPEL: As you sit here tonight, though, Dr. Aziz, is it your conviction — you've been in the diplomacy game a very long time — is it your conviction that Washington and London are determined to go to war against Iraq? AZIZ: I think Washington wants the war, you see. London, to a certain extent, yes. To a large extent it is with this plan. But Washington wants the war. It wants the war for its imperialist purposes. Allow me to use this word "imperialist" and "imperialism" because it's … KOPPEL: It's a very old word. It's [inaudible]. AZIZ: It is a word, it is old, but now it's being reused now. The American imperialism is at its peak. This is not only what Tariq Aziz is saying. Many, many hundreds, thousands, and millions of people in Europe, and Asia, and Africa are saying that, you see, especially this administration. This administration is the peak of imperialism. So, there, they want to wage a war for imperialist purposes, and they want to wage a war to serve the purposes of Israel in this region. They want to make Israel the empire in this region, an empire. KOPPEL: Why would the United States want to do that? How are U.S. purposes served? AZIZ: Who runs the United States? Who governs the United States? KOPPEL: You asked the question. Give me the answer. AZIZ: I'll give you the answer. Who runs the United States is the military industrial complex, and you know what, what I mean. When they add billions of dollars to the budget of the Pentagon, not to the budget of the health care or to schools or maintenance of roads and bridges, you can guess who runs the United States, and to what purposes, and who benefits from this whole aggressive, warmongering policy? KOPPEL: We'll pick up on that theme in just a moment. I'll be back with Dr. Aziz in just a moment. [Commercial break.] KOPPEL: We're back, once again, at the Council of Ministers in Baghdad with the deputy prime minister, Tariq Aziz. You were implying before, and maybe I simply inferred something you didn't mean to imply, that somehow the Jews are behind this in the United States. AZIZ: Some? KOPPEL: That the Jews are behind it in the United States, behind … AZIZ: I didn't say the Jews. They are the Zionists, you see, those who are supporting Israel, and the U.S. administration are very, very eager to do that, and you know the names, you see, and I know the names because this is not a secret who is pushing, you see, on a daily basis this policy of war in United States. KOPPEL: You also said to me, when we were talking before the interview, that you think the United States has another purpose, and that is oil. AZIZ: Oil and Israel. KOPPEL: Oil and Israel. Let's talk about oil for a moment. There's plenty of oil coming out of Saudi Arabia, there's new oil coming out of the caucuses now. Why does the United States have to go to war against … AZIZ: That was even mentioned, you see, by American press and American officials they would like to bring American companies to exploit the Iraqi oil, you see. That's not a fabrication made by me or by other Iraqi officials. It's printed in your own newspapers, it's mentioned in your own media. After the invasion of Iraq, they would like to install a government led by an American general and American companies will exploit the oil in Iraq. What does that mean? KOPPEL: What does it mean? AZIZ: It means imperialism, colonialism, new colonialism, as with the British colonialism here in Iraq until the Republican Revolution in 1958, until we came to power and nationalized the oil companies. KOPPEL: You feel that the United States is trying to reshape the map of the entire Middle East … AZIZ: Yes KOPPEL: … Or just the Persian Gulf? AZIZ: Yes, yes, yes. KOPPEL: To what end? AZIZ: To divide the major countries in the region into small, tiny, weak, conflicting states, and that makes Israel an empire in the region.
TED KOPPEL: President Bush, as you know, has labeled Iraq, Iran and North Korean the "axis of evil." Is there any connection between those three countries? TARIQ AZIZ: No. You know the relations between Iraq and Iran. KOPPEL: They've been very bad. AZIZ: We haven't had diplomatic relations with Korea for the last 22 years, since 1980, when they provided Iran with arms in the war between Iraq and Iran, and we severed our diplomatic relations. We don't have any kind of relations with North Korea. KOPPEL: So no axis, perhaps. What about your relationship with terrorist organizations? AZIZ: Well, first of all the question of axis was ridiculed by everybody in the world. Every American intelligent analyst or bright ridiculed that, not only Tariq Aziz or the Iraqis, because it shows the ignorance of the person who spoke about it. There is no axis between a country, a regime like the Iraqi regime and the Iranian regime and the North Korean regime. The axis existed in the Second World War between fascist regimes in Germany, and Italy, and Japan. We are quite different regimes, you see, and political systems in those three countries. How can we make an axis? KOPPEL: What about the relationship between Iraq and terrorist organizations? AZIZ: We don't have any relations, you see. We are … what do you mean by terrorist? If you mean al Qaeda … KOPPEL: Let's start with al Qaeda. AZIZ: If you mean al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, we didn't have any kind of relations with them. You know when Taliban came to power in 1996, we didn't have even diplomatic relations with Afghanistan. The man who was representing, the diplomat who was representing Afghanistan before they came to power remained in Iraq representing the government led by Rabbani because we did have historical diplomatic relations with Afghanistan. We did not recognize the government of Taliban as a legitimate government of Afghanistan. We did not even publish messages of congratulations which were sent by Mullah Omar to our president on the occasions of either Fatah or Ramadan. So we don't have any relations with those people. KOPPEL: That was then. What about the old cliché, "My enemy's enemy is my friend?" AZIZ: I think that's a very shortsighted policy which was embraced by the United States itself. That was the main policy of the United States in the '80s. KOPPEL: Supporting the mujahideen? AZIZ: And supporting mujahideen. But it is not our policy, because this is, in my opinion and the opinion of the Iraqi leadership, it's a very shortsighted wrong policy to say that the enemy of my enemy is an ally, or a friend. That's wrong, you see. KOPPEL: Will we at any point in the next few weeks, or the months, or even the next couple of years, discover that there is the Iraqi hand behind any of the terrorism that's … AZIZ: No, you won't find any traces. If you are honestly seeking the truth, Iraq is not a threat to the United States. Go and search for the real threats around the worlds, which have been created by the American policies. KOPPEL: Iraq really was a threat to Kuwait. You invaded Kuwait. AZIZ: First of all, Kuwait is not the United States. KOPPEL: No, but I was going to say … AZIZ: And that's over … KOPPEL: I was going to say, Dr. Aziz, that it was perceived to be a threat to the Saudi Arabia. There were feelings that … AZIZ: There was no threat to Saudi Arabia, and now we are trying to rebuild the relations with Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia genuinely doesn't want this war which is being planned by Bush, because it's going to be dangerous to them as well, not only to Iraq. KOPPEL: Will … AZIZ: I beg your pardon? KOPPEL: Will they support it ultimately? AZIZ: I don't know, you see. I am not the decision maker in Saudi Arabia, and I cannot speak for them. But they know that it will be dangerous to them. It will be bad. Everybody in this region is asking the United States not to wage a war against Iraq. Not because they love or hate Iraq, that's not the case. That's not the reason. The reason is that they know that this is a very dangerous game. Nobody is going to benefit from it, except Israel. Israel. And the bunch of warmongers in the American administration. And the bunch of the owners of the military industrial complex. They will make money out of it. But even the United States as a nation is going to lose a lot in this dangerous game. KOPPEL: The last time you and I met here in Baghdad, Minister, was in August of 1991. At that time President Saddam did not seem to believe that there would be an attack by the coalition against Iraq. He was of course wrong. What does he believe now? AZIZ: Well I think your perception about 1990 is not correct. We knew that there was preparation for a serious attack on Iraq. We knew that. We were not surprised when that attack occurred on the 16th of January 1991. When I returned from my trip to Geneva, meeting Mr. Baker at that time, I was totally convinced that there will be a war, and I reported that to the president and to the leadership. Now, as I'm telling you, I hope that there will be no attack on Iraq. I hope so. We are praying for that. But we have to know the facts. The fact is that this administration is preparing for a war. If the war does not occur, it will be a miracle. It would not be because they changed their minds now because they have found that there are so many obstacles in their way that they cannot overcome. That's it. And the question is not weapons of mass destruction. The question is not the end of the work of the inspectors. The question, as I said, allow me to say I might be old-fashioned in my analysis, but this is the truth. The question is Israel and oil. That's the main two reasons behind this policy. KOPPEL: Is that also what President Saddam believes? AZIZ: Yes, this is not only if you go to any in the Arab world now, listen to what political analysts say. They all say the same. They all say the same. KOPPEL: One last question. Just out of historical curiosity. You made reference to the meeting you had in Geneva with then-Secretary of State James Baker. He handed you a letter at that time, and that letter allegedly contained a U.S. threat that if Iraq used chemical or biological weapons against Israel or against U.S. troops, that the United States would use any weapons at its disposal. The implication was even nuclear weapons. What did that letter say? Was that what it said? AZIZ: Well, you mentioned that it was in the letter. The man said that, you see, clearly to me in clear English, you see. KOPPEL: He said that the U.S. … AZIZ: He said that was in the conversation between me and him. He said "I have to tell you that if you use such weapons, we will retaliate, we will be forced by the American public opinion to retaliate by any means," you see, which was clear to me, you see. KOPPEL: He didn't actually say "nuclear weapons"? AZIZ: Well, I don't remember he mentioned nuclear, but it was clear, you see, his statement was clear to me. KOPPEL: Do you think that threat still exists? AZIZ: Well, we don't have weapons of mass destruction and we cannot use something which we don't have. Simply. We don't have weapons — biological or chemical weapons, to use them in any future conflict. But we have our conventional weapons, and we will fight, and we will fight in a very capable manner, you see. This American aggression in Iraq is not going to be a picnic, as people like Rumsfeld or Wolfowitz, or Pearl, think that they can settle it, end it, in three weeks or a few weeks, you see, and then govern Iraq, invade Iraq, topple the government, create a government led by Mr. Tommy Franks, et cetera. These are hallucinations. And this is out of sheer ignorance as well as sheer imperialist policies, you see. The Iraqi people are not a bunch of chickens, you see, to be treated like that. The Iraqi people will fight to protect their independence, will fight to protect their sovereignty, their dignity. And they have done so. After the First World War, when Britain was the greatest empire in the world, it invaded Iraq, it put in British General Tor [ph] in Iraq. And then within four years the Iraqi people revolted against the British colonialists and forced on them to create an Iraqi government, an Iraqi kingdom. KOPPEL: Is Iraq making any preparations for war? AZIZ: Of course, we are taking all necessary precautions to defend our country. KOPPEL: I've heard that all Iraqi people have been armed, is that correct? AZIZ: Yes, yes. KOPPEL: When did that happen? AZIZ: You know, they speak about the relations between Iraq, the Iraqi leadership, and the Iraqi people. We are the only country in the world, the only government in the world who gives weapons to its people. In hundreds of thousands, if not millions. And that's because we are sure of the attitude of our people. You can find a gun in every house in Iraq. And all these guns will be used against any invasion of Iraq, not against the leadership and the government of Iraq. KOPPEL: Mr. Aziz, you've been very generous with your time. Thank you very much. AZIZ: [inaudible]. KOPPEL: Thank you.
Washington's Zionist hawks to reshape Mid-East for Israel:
http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/middle-east-and-asia/2002/10/25/washington-s-zionist-hawks-to-reshape-mid-east-for-israel.php
http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/middle-east-and-asia/index.php | |  | | Guest | | | | Guest | | | | Guest | | | | Guest | | | | Guest | | | | WHITE NORDSMAN | | Posted: Fri Dec 06, 2002 1:29 am Post subject: ISRAEL WANTS THIS WAR |
|  ARTICKLE IS A TRUE VIEW ON MIDEAST SITUATION .JEWS OWN MEDIA IN USA MEDIA=PROPAGANDA 24/7 INTO MOST HOMES IN USA SO NO SURPRISE JEWS HAVE CAN RULE AMERICA | | | | Guest | | | | Guest | | | | *Mutt American | | Posted: Thu Dec 12, 2002 6:59 pm Post subject: |
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