Eric Mueller comments: WE POST on this page today's editorial from Babil, the newspaper owned by Saddam Hussein's son, about the latest United Nations resolution 1441. In Arabic, it's an unofficial comment, but the first real Iraqi comment nonetheless. The resolution itself is an outrage. Suffice it to say that it allows the "UN inspectors" to kidnap anybody -- officials, scientists or anyone -- and take them and their families out of Iraq for questioning, it allows them to shut down whole areas of the country banning flights and all ground traffic. It allows them full access to any building; if guards at, say, a presidential palace so much as challenge them, it is held to be a violation of the resolution. Indeed there's nothing to prevent the inspectors from deciding to take the Iraqi president and his family out of the country for interrogation. The resolution also legitimises the violations of Iraqi airspace that the US and UK have been undertaking for years without UN authorization. The "UN inspectors" are provided with a security force to protect them, and in the closed areas in which they ban all ground traffic, presumably those "security troops" would be in charge of the area (since the Iraqi army wouldn't be allowed to move in the enclozed zone) This is a license for occupation. Iraq may well have to accept this, but no country should be subjected to this. It's worse that any arbitrary extraterritoriality of colonial days. Arabist Eric Mueller is this website's expert on Middle Eastern affairs.

http://www.iraq2000.com/babil/page2.htm

Et tu, Brutae?

by Dr. Abd al-Razzaq Muhammad al-Daylami

NOW a new resolution has been issued. Will this resolution satisfy the arrogance and haughtiness of the American Administration? The answer is, 'definitely not.' That's because this Administration has placed the United Nations at its mercy. The aim of the United States has never been other than to attain its greedy ambitions at the expense of the peoples and countries of the world, especially those in which lie its strategic interests.

The new resolution is new only in name. In terms of its contents it is just a repetition of all that we have already rejected. It is a confirmation of Bush's aggressive intentions against us. The American Administration, now as in the past, is striving to make the United Nations a willing tool that it can use however and wherever it sees fit to attain its Zionist imperialist goals.

We, in fact, were not surprised that this resolution was passed. But we must express our sorrow at what has become of the international organization, at how it has been brazenly violated and transgressed against in such a way that the aims and tasks of this organization are now in an unenviable situation. In fact, its fate is now in question and the subject of apprehension because the arbitrariness and tyranny to which Iraq is to be subjected under the umbrella of the United Nations constitutes a dangerous precedent that can be repeated with any country that rejects or objects to America's authoritarian policy.

This resolution will provide broad opportunities for the Bush Administration to interfere via the prerogatives of the work of the inspection committees. Indeed, this Administration has in its pockets many plans that it will use to implement its aggression against our country. Specifically, the paragraphs in the resolution spell out binding conditions, each one worse than the last, in addition to the absolute authority that has been delegated to the inspection committees and which gives American intelligence broad opportunities to make use of them. It is because of this that Bush started to intimidate and make threats even before he had heard or had learned of Iraq's opinion on this resolution. This proves that the concern of the United States is not, as its official statements claim, that they want to eliminate the mass destruction weapons that they know do not exist. What they want is a cover that allows them to shut the mouths of those who oppose them by means of a resolution that they have extorted from the Security Council. Our country has permitted these inspection committees to return to Iraq and it has taken all possible steps to facilitate their work &endash; for we have nothing to fear nor does anything scare us.

The next step will be some form of American pressure on the inspection committees to undertake provocative activities, far removed from their specializations. American intelligence will do all it can so that the inspections are carried out in a way that conforms to American aims.

What is more important than all this and that is the fact that our wise leadership has the consciousness and awareness to work with its well-known acumen to deny the Bush Administration any opportunity to exploit any situation or condition. It will change the schemes and evils of the Americans, whatever route or path they take, including this resolution of ill repute that obtained the agreement of all those who formerly had opposed it . . . for even you, Syria, agreed to it.