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> Thur. Mar. 13, 2003
Pacifica's Peace Watch
Today's Stories:
Francis Boyle, Blair International Criminal Court
US Ambassador to the UN, John Negroponte Responds to British
Proposal
Little Known UN Resolution 377 May Provide An Alternative
Solution For Opponents of the US/UK War on Iraq
Has Pentagon Threatened to Shoot at Independent Journalists’
Satellite Uplink? Kate Adie, The BBC
Terrorist Bookstore
Terrorism Used to Promote Long Standing US Policy Goals
Iraqi Artists' Paintings Reflect their Concerns About War
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Story: Francis Boyle, Blair International Criminal
Court
As the Bush administration’s March 17th deadline approaches,
efforts are underway to prosecute Tony Blair and impeach President
Bush, if the two move ahead with plans to invade Iraq.
A group of British lawyers have served notice on British
Prime Minister Tony Blair and his cabinet members that if
he joins forces with the U.S. and launches an attack on Iraq,
they will prepare a brief to be filed with the International
Criminal court at the Hague, insisting on their prosecution.
Francis Boyle is a professor of International Law at the University
of Law in Champagne. He has a little experience with bringing
up world leaders before the ICC – he led the legal battle
that brought Slobodan Milosevic to trial in The Hague. Boyle
says Blair is well aware of the court and it’s jurisdiction.
Tape: Francis Boyle, professor of International Law at the
University of Law in Champagne.
[top]
Story: US Ambassador to the UN, John Negroponte
Responds to British Proposal
US Ambassador to the UN, John Negroponte told reporters last
night that the only resolution formally under consideration
at the UN is the US and British resolution submitted on February
24th calling for a March 17th deadline for Iraq to disarm.
He explained the difference between the British-American resolution
and the new proposal submitted by British Ambassador Sir Jeremy
Greenstock.
Tape: US Ambassador to the UN, John Negroponte
As Friday's vote at the UN Security Council on a resolution
setting a March 17th deadline for Iraq's disarmament draws
near, Britain has drafted an alternative proposal. Britain’s
proposal would require Iraq to comply with six key tests in
order to avoid a U.S. led invasion. These tests include a
televised statement by Saddam Hussein in Arabic admitting
that he concealed nuclear weapons facilities and that he will
no longer seek to obtain Weapons of Mass Destruction. Iraq
must also allow unobstructed interviews with key Iraqi scientists
outside of Iraq, and it must destroy all mobile chemical and
biological weapons facilities. Saddam Hussein has rejected
the proposal.
[top]
Story: Little Known UN Resolution 377 May Provide
An Alternative Solution For Opponents of the US/UK War on
Iraq
Steven Sawyer Political adviser for Green Peace International
in Amsterdam is currently in New York monitoring the activities
of the UN Security Council’s deliberations regarding
the impending war on Iraq. Green peace and the Center for
Constitutional Rights have called on the UN to use a little
known Resolution 377 prevent the war in the case of a deadlock
in the Security Council. PeaceWatch spoke to Sawyer today
regarding how UN Resolution 377 applies in the case of Iraq.
Tape: Steven Sawyer Political adviser for Green Peace
[top]
Story: Has Pentagon Threatened to Shoot at Independent
Journalists’ Satellite Uplink? Kate Adie, The BBC
According to an internet news story this week, veteran BCC
war correspondent Kate Adie revealed on an Irish radio station
that the Pentagon had threatened to fire on the satellite
uplink positions of independent journalists in Iraq. KPFK's
Sonali Kolhatkar spoke with media analyst Rachel Cohen of
Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting and Kate Adie.
Tape: Kate Adie of the BBC. This interview was co-produced
by Christopher Sprinkle and Sonali Kolhatkar of Pacifica station
KPFK in Los Angeles.
[top]
Story: Terrorist Bookstore
While The Bush administration talks of targeting terrorism
in Iraq, the war on terrorism may be spreading to peace activists
in the United States. Tish from the Houston Independent Media
Center brings us this critique:
Tape: Mike Whalen of the Arise bookstore in Minneapolis,
speaking with Tish from the Houston Independent Media Center.
Thanks to Renee Feltz from Pacifica station KPFT for help
with that report.
[top]
Story: Terrorism Used to Promote Long Standing US
Policy Goals
As the US-Iraqi conflict continues to unfold, a closer look
at recent history reveals a familiar US policy goal with origins
in the Reagan administration: control of the second largest
oil reserves in the world. Post-9/11 reverberations have conveniently
brought Iraq into the same broad category of ”terrorism’
as al-Qaeda, whose constant transnational presence is the
pretext for any war, with or without evidence, with or without
international approval.
Nafeez Mossaddeq Ahmed is a British political scientist and
director of the Institute for Policy Research and Development
in Brighton, England and author of “The War on Freedom:
How and Why America was Attacked.” PeaceWatch spoke
with Ahmed on the current crisis in Iraq and other issues.
Tape: Nafeez Mossaddeq Ahmed, director of the Institute for
Policy Research and Development in Brighton, England, and
author of “The War on Freedom: How and Why America was
Attacked.”
[top]
Story: Iraqi Artists' Paintings Reflect their Concerns
About War
The 1991 Gulf War and the subsequent UN-imposed economic
sanctions on Iraq have compelled many Iraqi artists to immigrate
to safer havens. Many of them are residing in Jordan, where
they hold occasional art exhibitions. Though they are safely
away from Iraq now, they say the effects of former wars and
the fear of an imminent one have left some blemishes on their
work.
Tape: Oula Farawati reports...
Credits
[top]
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