White House Drive for New War with Iraq Faces International Opposition

Interview by Between The Lines' Scott Harris.

Since President Bush declared Iraq, Iran and North Korea an "axis of evil" in his January State of the Union address, speculation is running high that a U.S. military attack on Saddam Hussein's government is imminent. While the White House has failed to substantiate any link between Iraq and the Sept. 11 attacks, many leading Republicans and Democrats support targeting Baghdad in the next phase of the war against terrorism.

The threat of military action is being used to pressure Iraq to accept the return of UN weapons inspectors who the Bush administration maintains must go back to neutralize the threat of Hussein's alleged stockpile of weapons of mass destruction. UN inspectors withdrew from Iraq in 1998 soon after it was discovered that some members of the UNSCOM team were engaged in espionage. The UN monitors left Iraq just before a U.S.-British bombing campaign began. Many of Iraq's neighbors, and several members of the U.N. Security Council, oppose a U.S. assault on Iraq and warn that unilateral action by Washington would undermine the coalition that supported America's war on the Taliban government in Afghanistan.

Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with Denis Halliday, former Under-Secretary General at the UN in charge of Iraq's oil for food program, who resigned his post in protest of economic sanctions in 1998. Halliday examines Washington's war plans and the potential threat that Iraq poses to its neighbors and the U.S (A RealAudio Version of this interview may be found at http://www.btlonline.org).

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To get more information on the international campaign to end economic sanctions on Iraq that target civilians, call Voices in the Wilderness at (773) 784-8065 or visit their Web site at www.vitw.org

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