Immediate issue: 12 September 2002
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament is supporting the ‘Don’t Attack Iraq’ march from the Embankment and demonstration in Hyde Park, called by the Stop the War Coalition, for Saturday 28 September.
Rather than concentrating their efforts on remembrance and quiet reflection for those who died in the terrorist atrocity of exactly a year ago and those who died in the bombing of Afghanistan, the Prime Minister of Britain and the President of the USA have been making preparations for war on Iraq – militarily, diplomatically and psychologically.
No longer a supporter of CND, Tony Blair should become a founder member of the CDWMD (Campaign for the Destruction of Weapons of Mass Destruction). Unfortunately, the Prime Minister’s abhorrence of WDM does not extent to those he and President Bush control and are obliged, by international agreement, to abolish.
The question of Saddam Hussein’s capability to wage war with WDM remains uncertain. This uncertainty has been reinforced by a CIA report to Congress, former UNSCOM inspector Scott Ritter, the IAEA and, most recently, the IISS Report – all of which have been misrepresented.
The question of Saddam Hussein’s intention to wage war with WMD is even less certain. Former US President Jimmy Carter stated in the Washington Post last week: “As has been emphasised vigorously by foreign allies and by responsible leaders of former administrations and incumbent officeholders, there is no current danger to the United States from Baghdad. We have thrown down counterproductive gauntlets to the rest of the world, disavowing US commitments to laboriously negotiated international accords.”
“Odious as Saddam Hussein’s regime is, welcome as a democratic and stable alternative would be, we do not believe that war with Iraq will lead to the resolution of the crisis in the region. Indeed, it is more likely to exacerbate it and fuel existing hatreds,”said CND Chair Carol Naughton.