JTW's Politics & History - Author: Chomsky, Noam

Iraq: This Action Is A Call For A Lawless World In Which The Powerful Will Rule

Noam Chomsky:

Although I agree that Saddam Hussein remains a serious threat to peace, there happens to be a way to deal with that question, one that has been established under international law.

That procedure is the foundation of international law and international order and is also the supreme law of the land in the United States.

If a country, say the United States, feels that a threat is posed to peace, it is to approach the Security Council, which has the sole authority to react to that threat.

The Security Council is required to pursue all peaceful means to deal with the threat to peace, and if it determines that all such means have failed, it may then specifically authorise the use of force.

Nothing else is permitted under international law, except with regard to the question, here irrelevant, of self-defence.

Adhere to International Law as Long as it's Convenient...

Noam Chomsky:

The U.S. is simply saying that as far as it is concerned, all options are open, and nothing else matters - not international law, not the World Court, not the United Nations, and not the opinions of the countries and peoples of the region.

If our purposes can be served by diplomacy, we will use diplomacy; if they can be served by force, we will use force.

U.S. "Support" for Democratic Opposition in Iraq...

V.K. Ramachandran:

The U.S. has now offered to "strengthen its engagement with the Iraqi opposition". Do you consider this to be part of the larger strategic objective of which you spoke?

Noam Chomsky:

I would be very careful about that.

The U.S. has been strongly opposed to the Iraqi opposition.

In 1988, when Saddam Hussein was a great friend and ally, the U.S. blocked any criticism of the gas attacks.

At that point, according to Iraqi opposition leaders to whom I have spoken, Secretary of State George Schultz ordered U.S. diplomats not to have any contacts with Iraqi dissidents because that might bother their friend Saddam Hussein.

These orders remained in place and were formally and publicly reiterated in March 1991 - that is, after the Gulf war - while the U.S. was backing Saddam Hussein's massacre of the Shi'ites in the south of Iraq.

The U.S. has sought to work with the military elements of the Iraqi opposition.

The idea has been that there should be a military coup that would replace Saddam Hussein with a more or less equivalent regime but without Saddam Hussein.

Those efforts have been penetrated by Iraqi intelligence and have failed.

The democratic Iraqi opposition itself claims to this day that it has been receiving essentially no support from the United States.

That was pretty much conceded by Secretary Albright just two days ago.

When asked about this matter she said: "We have now come to the determination that the Iraqi people would benefit if they had a government that really represented them."

She said this in December 1998, when the U.S. suddenly had a religious conversion and decided that Iraqis would benefit if they had a government that represented them.

That means that until now the U.S. did not take that position - which is correct.

Until now, the position has been that the Iraqi people have to be controlled by an iron-fisted military junta, without Saddam Hussein if possible, since he is an embarrassment.

But shall we take Secretary Albright at her word today, has the religious conversion taken place?

No, it is very unlikely that anything has changed except tactics.

The U.S. government does not want a democratic opposition to gain power in Iraq any more than it would want such an event to occur in Saudi Arabia.

No, it wants these countries to be ruled by dictatorships that are under U.S. influence.

There is a lot to criticise in the Iraqi democratic opposition, but part of the reason why they are so fragmented and at odds with each other is that they just do not get support from the outside.

That should not surprise us: where in the world does the U.S. support the democratic opposition?

We know how it acts in Central America and in Africa - why should it be different in Iraq?

• Chomsky, Noam; Ramachandran, V.K.
  • This Action Is A Call For A Lawless World In Which The Powerful Will Rule
  • Frontline: Vol. 16, No. 1
  • January 2-15, 1999

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