While I am working with the already famous Greenspan book, I
read an article published by El País, a Spanish
newspaper with a circulation of more than 500,000, according
to reports; I would like to pass this on to the readers. It
is signed by Ernesto Ekaizer, and it literally reads:
“Four weeks before the Iraq invasion which happened in
the night of March 19 to 20, 2003, George W. Bush publicly
sustained his demands of Saddam Hussein in the following
terms: disarmament or war. In private, Bush acknowledged
that war was inevitable. In a long private conversation
with the then Spanish president, José María Aznar, held on
Saturday, February 22, 2003 at the Crawford Ranch in Texas,
Bush made it clear that the moment had come to get rid of
Saddam. ‘We have two weeks. In two weeks our military will
be ready. We will be in Baghdad at the end of March', he
told Aznar.
“The moment has come to get rid of Saddam.
“As part of this plan, Bush had accepted, on January 31,
2003 --after an interview with the British Prime Minister
Tony Blair-- to make a last diplomatic manoeuvre: to
introduce a second resolution to the United Nations Security
Council. His objective: to clear the way legally for a
unilateral war that the United States was getting ready to
unleash with more than 200,000 soldiers who were in the
region ready to attack.
“Bush was aware of Blair’s internal difficulties and he
knew of Aznar’s. Only seven days before that meeting at the
Crawford Ranch, three million people were demonstrating in
several Spanish cities against the imminent war. ‘We need
your help with our public opinion’, Aznar asks. Bush
explains to him the scope of the new resolution that he is
going to present: ‘The resolution will be tailor made to
help you. I don’t care about the content’. To this, Aznar
replies: ‘That text would help us to be able to co-sponsor
it and be its co-authors, and get many people to sponsor
it’. Aznar, then, offers to give Bush European coverage,
together with Blair. Aznar’s dream of consolidating a
relationship with the United States, following in the
footsteps of the United Kingdom, was about to become
reality.
“Aznar had travelled with his wife, Ana Botella, on
February 20 to the United States making a stopover in Mexico
to persuade President Vicente Fox –unsuccessfully– of the
need to support Bush. On the 21st, the couple,
accompanied by the President’s assistants, arrived in
Texas. Aznar and his wife stayed at the ranch guest house.
“In the meeting on the following day, Saturday,
President Bush, his then National Security Advisor
Condoleezza Rice, and Daniel Fried, the chief of European
Affairs at the National Security Council, were present.
Aznar, on his side, was accompanied by his international
policy advisor, Alberto Carnero and the Spanish Ambassador
in Washington, Javier Rupérez. As part of the meeting, Bush
and Aznar had a four-way telephone conversation with the
British Prime Minister Tony Blair and the Italian President
Silvio Berlusconi.
“Ambassador Rupérez translated from the English for
Aznar and also from the Italian for Condoleezza Rice;
another two interpreters did the same for Bush and his
collaborators. It was Rupérez who drafted the minutes of
the conversation in a memorandum that has been kept secret
until today.
“The conversation is impressive because of its direct,
friendly and even menacing tone when, for example, they
refer to the necessity of some countries like Mexico, Chile,
Angola, Cameroon and Russia, members of the UN Security
Council, voting for the new resolution as a show of
friendship towards the United States or else they would have
to suffer the consequences.
“They are cautioned about zero expectations for the
work of the inspectors, whose chief, Hans Blix, had
dismantled just one week earlier, on February 14, the
arguments presented by United States Secretary of State
Colin Powell at the Security Council on February 5, 2003,
with ‘solid facts’ enthusiastically supported by the Spanish
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ana Palacio. The same facts
that Powell himself later described as a bunch of lies.
“The Blix Report
“According to Blix, Iraq was taking steps towards
active cooperation in solving the pending issue of
disarmament. His tone had been less critical than that of
his report of January 27, 2003. ‘Since we arrived in Iraq
three months ago we have made more than 400 inspections,
with no advance warning at 300 sites. Until now, the
inspectors have found no prohibited weapons…If Iraq decides
to cooperate even more closely, the period of disarmament by
the inspections can still be short´, the chief inspector
pointed out.
“The General Director of the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA), Mohamed El Baradei released
information on February 14 that there were still some
technical issues left to clear up. But, he added, ‘now there
are no more disarmament problems left to solve’. According
to him, absolutely no proof had been found that Iraq had
been carrying out nuclear activities or activities related
to nuclear energy, another clear lie about what Powell had
stated about the Iraqi nuclear program.
“Both the first results of the inspections and the end
of the United States preparations led Bush to set the
beginning of the military operation towards the date of
March 10, 2003. Later, nine days were added in order to get
the second resolution. The process of moral persuasion in
which Aznar and Palacios worked by phone and in bilateral
meetings did not succeed in pulling in more than four votes:
those of the three promoters and Bulgaria. They needed 9
votes.
“The failure of this legal coverage for the imminent
war led Bush, with Blair and Aznar, to agree to a summit
meeting in the Azores on March 16, 2003, a place suggested
by Aznar as an alternative to Bermuda for a reason he
explained to Bush: ‘Just the name of these islands suggests
an item of clothing that is not exactly the most appropriate
for the seriousness of the moment in which we find
ourselves’. There, on that March 16, Blair, Bush and Aznar
decided to replace the United Nations Security Council. They
usurped its functions to declare war on Iraq at their own
risk. On the morning of March 17, the United Kingdom
ambassador at the UN announced in New York the withdrawal of
the second resolution. A defeat in the voting would have
complicated even further the race towards war.”
Fidel Castro Ruz
September 27, 2007.
7:25 p.m.
