Chemical
coup d'etat
The US wants to depose the diplomat who could take
away its pretext for war with Iraq
George Monbiot- The Guardian
Tuesday April 16, 2002
On Sunday, the US government will launch
an international coup. It has been planned for a month. It will
be executed quietly, and most of us won't know what is happening
until it's too late. It is seeking to overthrow 60 years of multilateralism
in favour of a global regime built on force.
The coup begins with its attempt, in five
days' time, to unseat the man in charge of ridding the world of
chemical weapons. If it succeeds, this will be the first time
that the head of a multilateral agency will have been deposed
in this manner. Every other international body will then become
vulnerable to attack. The coup will also shut down the peaceful
options for dealing with the chemical weapons Iraq may possess,
helping to ensure that war then becomes the only means of destroying
them.
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical
Weapons (OPCW) enforces the chemical weapons convention. It inspects
labs and factories and arsenals and oversees the destruction of
the weapons they contain. Its director-general is a workaholic
Brazilian diplomat called Jose Bustani. He has, arguably, done
more in the past five years to promote world peace than anyone
else on earth. 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.
In May 2000, as a tribute to his extraordinary
record, Bustani was re-elected unanimously by the member states
for a second five-year term, even though he had yet to complete
his first one. Last year Colin Powell wrote to him to thank him
for his "very impressive" work. But now everything has
changed. The man celebrated for his achievements has been denounced
as an enemy of the people.
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