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INTERVIEWS AND SPEECHES
Former UN ASSISTANT SECRETARY GENERAL, and former UN HUMANITARIAN AID CO-ORDINATOR FOR IRAQ
"There is no other way to describe the death of one, possibly 1.5 million people....what else is that but genocide?"
Denis Halliday resigned in protest from the UN over the Iraq situation, after 31 years of service. This April 1999 interview was conducted and recorded in London by Miriam Ryle and Grant Wakefield. Halliday details the precise reasons for the failure of the 'Oil-For-Food' programme, and paints a very grim picture of the reality of life for ordinary Iraqis. His knowledge and passion are clear to see, and his facts indisputable.
HANS VON SPONECK
former UN HUMANITARIAN AID CO-ORDINATOR FOR IRAQ
"Right now we are setting the stage for depriving another generation...."
Hans Von Sponeck replaced Halliday, only to face the same moral dilemma as his predecesor. He also resigned in protest, and like Halliday has undertaken a punishing schedule of speaking engagements to bring the truth to the public. Mr. Von Sponeck's pedigree is enhanced only by the fact that his father was one of the few German officers to refuse an order from Hitler during World War 2. He paid with his life, but saved the men under his command from certain death.
The INTERVIEW was given in April 1999 at the UN building in Baghdad to members of the PHYSICIANS FOR THE PREVENTION OF NUCLEAR WAR delegation, and recorded by Grant Wakefield.
His SPEECH was presented at the 'DAY AND NIGHT FOR THE PEOPLE OF IRAQ' conference, held in London in May 2000.
"In many years of reporting on governments and their lies, I’ve never known anything quite like it."
One of the most celebrated journalists of our time, Pilger has won an Emmy, an Academy Award, and twice won 'Journalist of the Year'. His film 'PAYING THE PRICE - THE KILLING OF THE CHILDREN OF IRAQ' was a landmark documentary, focussing popular attention on the sanctions that provoked enormous coverage and debate in the mainstream.
This is a transcript of an impassioned speech he gave at the 'DAY AND NIGHT FOR THE PEOPLE OF IRAQ' conference, held in London in May 2000.
Former Chief Weapons Inspector of UNSCOM (UNITED NATIONS SPECIAL COMMISSION)
"We would
never allow 500,000 Jewish children to starve to death. We would never allow 500,000
British children to starve to death.
It's racial politics, we all know that."
Yet another highly placed UN representative to resign in protest, Ritter's brave moral stand against sanctions is revealed in this lively and typically controversial interview. Given to members of the FELLOWSHIP OF RECONCILIATION peace activist group in June 1999, his critique of American policy towards Iraq is scathing.
Chairman of UNMOVIC - UNITED NATIONS MONITORING, VERIFICATION AND INSPECTION COMMISSION
"Some UNSCOM
staff were in double emploi, that they had two positions. That is unacceptable.
All I can say is that if I find individuals working for other agencies, I will
throw them out."
Blix is the leader of the new weapons inspection group that is awaiting Iraq's permission to enter the country, and take up where the former UNSCOM team left off. UNSCOM had been highly successful in disarming Iraq, acheiving the vast majority of its' mandate. It became fatally compromised by Western intelligence agencies pursuing an agenda to overthrow Saddam Hussein, an accusation that Iraq had made many times. Prior to most mainstream media reports, UNSCOM inpsectors were not forcibly ejected from the country, but withdrawn for their own safety just prior to OPERATION DESERT FOX, an action that was itself not authorised by the UN but undertaken unilaterally by America and Britain.
Here in an interview with the magazine 'ARMS CONTROL TODAY' Blix diplomatically explains his role, the role of UNMOVIC and the reality of the so-called 'Weapons of Mass Destruction.'
ARTICLES INDEX JOHN PILGER'S WEB SITE
