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31 October 2002
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Readers of the Telegraph who support a war against Iraq might have been alarmed last Monday when their leading columnist, Barbara Amiel, informed them earlier this week, that those opposed to them encompass columnists in ‘The Times’ and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament .We were delighted, though a little surprised, that she highlighted our action in Whitehall as part of the Day of Action against the war today. At midday, I’ll be handing in more than 75,000 signatures on the joint petition CND-Stop the War against war in Iraq with their chair, Andrew Murray, Between 6 and 7pm, I’ll be joining CND members and supporters in Whitehall. Tony Blair is making preparations for war. We will be there standing in a vigil, or for those who wish to express their action otherwise, undertaking a non-violent sit down protest in the road. We shall call him to pull back from the brink of what could be a war when nuclear weapons are used for the first time since 1945. CND members and supporters have worked with local Stop the War Coalition groups and others throughout the country in opposing this war. It is at this time of the year, in the lead in to Remembrance Day that many CND groups will support the Peace Pledge Union white poppy campaign, to remember all the victims of war. Although our campaign priority remains the elimination of British nuclear weapons and global elimination of nuclear weapons, much energy of CND has necessarily been taken up with our opposition to a war in Iraq. Paul Rogers’ report for the Oxford Research Group is the most recent analysis of the prospect of war and the most alarming. He suggests a scenario where the American military invade to conquer Iraq. The response of the Iraqi regime, based on the evidence that has emerged since 1991, would be the use of chemical and biological weapons if the survival of the regime of Saddam Hussein was threatened. In those circumstances there is the possibility of a nuclear attack. This may be by America, Israel or Britain. It is Geoff Hoon, as Minister of Defence, who has been more candid than his counterparts in the American Department of Defense. A brief exchange I had with him at the Labour Party conference suggests he still regrets that. He disappeared across the foyer, calling back ‘I didn’t say it!’ It is worth examining his words again. They are of great significance. He said, on the Jonathan Dimbleby Programme on ITV on 24th March, that in response to a question as to whether or not an attack by chemical or biological weapons would be likely to trigger a nuclear response: ‘Let me make it clear the long-standing British government policy that if our forces, if our people were threatened by weapons of mass destruction we would reserve the right to use appropriate proportionate responses which might…might in extreme circumstances include the use of nuclear weapons.’ Are there likely to be British troops alongside Americans in an invasion of Iraq? The Congressional Budget Office report of 30th September, within the estimate of the cost of a second invasion of Iraq, factored in a similar contribution from the UK as was made in Desert Storm in 1991. The following have been ordered: two-thirds of a British heavy armour division and two-thirds of a British air wing are tasked as part of a heavy ground force as well as a naval contingent of 21 ships. Geoff Hoon dismissed this revelation as not being the response of the American administration. Even though the American administration regularly speaks with two voices, that of the Department of Defense – Donald Rumsfeld and the Department of State – Colin Powell, Hoon’s response is hardly credible. CND believes that a just settlement in the Middle East can be brought about only by diplomacy and negotiation, not by military action. We are alarmed at the recent rejection of treaties by the US, such as the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and the Protocol to the Biological Weapons Convention. United Nations resolutions and international treaties, including the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), must be adhered to by all nations, not just Iraq. Recent revelations suggest that the US is undermining international treaties on the abolition of nuclear weapons, as well as on chemical and biological weapons. The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) came into force in March 1970. Under Article 6, the US, along with the four other declared nuclear states at the time, UK, Russia, China and France, undertook to "pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament". All five renewed their promise at the Renewal Meeting of the NPT in May, 2000. Far from honouring that commitment, the US, having realised that its existing nuclear weapons are so powerful as to be unusable, is researching the development of two new types. The first are "bunker-busters", highly accurate weapons designed to hit underground targets, particularly weapons stores. The second, "mini-nukes", are even more dangerous. Having a lower yield they are, in the words of Russian President Putin "weapons of operational use", lowering the threshold at which nuclear weapons could be fired. Though less powerful than those in the existing US arsenal, they could nevertheless cause immense devastation and environmental damage should they be used. Any war on Iraq is going to kill thousands of innocent civilians and as such would be illegal as well as immoral. If the British Government supported such a war, it would be guilty of a crime against humanity. I agree with Former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark who said "An attack by the United States on Iraq to overthrow its government would be a flagrant violation of the UN charter, the Nuremberg charter and international law". We must use all forms of protest to bring tremendous pressure to bear on our government. Marches, lobbies, publicity, advertising and direct action are all valid ways of showing our opposition. Join us in Whitehall if you live in London. Wherever you live, do something today to oppose a war in Iraq that could become the first nuclear war of the 21st Century. Carol Naughton
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