{"id":1372,"date":"2007-09-29T19:06:54","date_gmt":"2007-09-29T19:06:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/breaking-news\/the-bush-aznar-tapes-glimpse-of-a-gangster-preparing-for-war\/1372\/"},"modified":"2007-09-29T19:06:54","modified_gmt":"2007-09-29T19:06:54","slug":"the-bush-aznar-tapes-glimpse-of-a-gangster-preparing-for-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/latest-news\/the-bush-aznar-tapes-glimpse-of-a-gangster-preparing-for-war\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bush-Aznar tapes: glimpse of a gangster preparing for war"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Bill Van Auken<\/a><\/h5>\n

The transcript of February 2003 discussions between US President George W. Bush and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar published Wednesday by Spain\u2019s largest daily, El Pais<\/em>, provides fresh documentary confirmation of what is already a widely known historical fact. That is: the Bush administration was determined to wage a war of aggression to conquer Iraq and was not about to allow international law or compromise settlements to interfere with its long-planned invasion.<\/p>\n

The contents of the conversation, transcribed by Spain\u2019s ambassador to Washington, Javier Ruperez, had been kept secret by Madrid\u2013both under Aznar\u2019s right-wing government and under that of his successor, Socialist Party (PSOE) Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero\u2013before someone leaked them to El Pais<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The document provides one more piece of irrefutable evidence that the Bush White House launched the invasion of Iraq on the basis of lies fabricated to further a predetermined policy. A significant component of this web of lies was the repeated claims made by Washington and its allies in the period leading up to the invasion that war was a last resort, and that they were determined to exhaust all diplomatic and peaceful alternatives.<\/p>\n

As Bush told his Spanish counterpart, whatever the UN might decide, \u201cIn two weeks we will be ready militarily…. We will be in Baghdad by the end of March.\u201d<\/p>\n

The White House failed to deny the authenticity of the document. White House spokesperson Dana Perino described the conversation as a \u201cprivate meeting\u201d and dismissed questions about its exposure of the Bush administration\u2019s deception of the American people and the world during this period. \u201cThere are some people who think we never should have gone into Iraq to remove Saddam Hussein,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd there is nothing we are going to be able to do that\u2019s going to change their minds.\u201d<\/p>\n

The transcript records a conversation that took place on February 22, 2003\u2013less than a month before the invasion\u2013at Bush\u2019s Crawford, Texas ranch. The discussion centered on the final pre-war diplomatic maneuvers aimed at ramming a resolution through the United Nations Security Council providing a rubberstamp for the US plans to attack Iraq.<\/p>\n

It also reveals that Saddam Hussein had indicated through the Egyptian government that he was prepared to go into exile, provided he could take with him $1 billion and documents on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, presumably including records proving US backing for Baghdad\u2019s weapons programs, particularly under Bush senior\u2019s administration.<\/p>\n

In addition, it touches on plans for the Iraqi leader\u2019s possible assassination and the campaign of intimidation initiated against countries represented on the Security Council that opposed a war.<\/p>\n

The meeting also came just one week after massive worldwide demonstrations that brought millions of people into the streets in opposition to the war, including huge crowds in both Spain and Britain, Washington\u2019s two principal supporters in preparing the aggression. In Spain, polls showed 90 percent of the population opposing an invasion, and Aznar\u2019s principal concern was to convince Bush to use the UN to provide some form of pseudo-legal cover for war to help him with massively hostile public opinion at home.<\/p>\n

In addition to Aznar and Bush, then US National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice also joined in the discussion, together with another White House advisor on European affairs, Aznar\u2019s chief advisor on international policy, Alberto Carnero, and the Spanish ambassador.<\/p>\n

According to the transcript, Bush told Aznar he was willing to go to the Security Council for another resolution that would be crafted so that it could be used to claim authorization for military action, without actually saying so. He said that the document should not include any demands upon Iraq\u2013with which Baghdad could potentially comply\u2013and should \u201cnot mention the use of force.\u201d Bush added, \u201cA lot of people could vote for a resolution like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both Bush and Aznar made it clear that they expected the resolution to be vetoed\u2013France, Russia and China, all permanent members of the Security Council with veto power, opposed it. But they hoped to get a majority of the council\u2019s members to support it, giving them a propaganda victory. In the end, they were forced to withdraw the resolution after it became clear that it would have gone down to overwhelming defeat without any veto having to be cast.<\/p>\n

The US president continued: \u201cSaddam Hussein will not change and he will keep playing around. The time has come to get rid of him. That\u2019s the way it is. I, for my part, will try from now on to use the most delicate rhetoric possible while we try to get the resolution approved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bush repeatedly expressed frustration over the failure of other European governments to fall into line behind Washington\u2019s war plans. Singling out French President Jacques Chirac, Bush said, \u201cThe problem is that Chirac thinks he\u2019s Mister Arab<\/em>, and in reality he\u2019s making life impossible.\u201d The US president continued by expressing his contempt for public opinion in Europe, declaring, \u201cThe more the Europeans attack me, the stronger I am in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Rice reviewed a schedule for the presentation of reports to the Security Council by UN weapons inspectors\u2013reports that would subsequently affirm Iraq\u2019s substantial compliance with disarmament\u2013Bush erupted in frustration.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is like Chinese water torture,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have to put an end to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aznar said he understood Bush\u2019s annoyance, but they had to get more support. \u201cHave a little patience,\u201d he begged.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy patience has run out,\u201d Bush replied. \u201cI don\u2019t plan on going beyond the middle of March.\u201d<\/p>\n

Referring to the non-permanent members on the Security Council that were voicing opposition to a resolution authorizing a US war, Bush declared: \u201cCountries like Mexico, Chile, Angola and Cameroon should know that what\u2019s at stake is the security of the US and act with a feeling of friendship towards us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The imperialist arrogance is breathtaking. Mexico, which historically has been the victim of multiple US invasions, Angola, a country that saw more than half a million of its people killed in a CIA-instigated civil war and Chile, which was the victim of a US-orchestrated coup that imposed a quarter century of fascist-military dictatorship, should all subordinate any concern for international law or the rights of nations to the security concerns of the US.<\/p>\n

Bush went on to spell out the kind of gangster-style threats being made behind the scenes. \u201cLagos [the Chilean president] should know that the free trade agreement with Chile is facing confirmation in the Senate and that a negative attitude on this issue could put its ratification in danger,\u201d he said. \u201cAngola is receiving funds from the Millennium Account and they too could be compromised if they don\u2019t take a positive approach. And Putin should know that with his attitude he is putting relations between Russia and the United States in danger.\u201d<\/p>\n

Referring to differences with British Prime Minister Tony Blair on how soon to put the resolution before the Security Council, Bush commented, \u201cThis is like the bad cop, good cop game. It doesn\u2019t bother me being the bad cop and Blair being the good one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also appalling\u2013given the one million Iraqi dead and the country\u2019s total devastation\u2013is Bush\u2019s conception of the coming war\u2019s impact. \u201cWe can win without destruction,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are already planning out the post-Saddam Iraq, and I believe there are good foundations for a better future. Iraq has a good bureaucracy and a relatively strong civil society. It could be organized in a federation. Meanwhile, we\u2019re doing everything we can to attend to the political needs of our friends and allies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aznar himself was somewhat taken aback by Bush\u2019s sanguine approach to the upcoming slaughter.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only thing that worries me about you is your optimism,\u201d said the Spanish prime minister.<\/p>\n

Bush replied: \u201cI am optimistic because I believe I am in the right. I am at peace with myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

The dialogue between the US president and the Spanish prime minister sounds more like a meeting between a Mafia godfather and one of his obsequious gangster captains than a discussion of international relations and policy between two heads of state. What they were cold-bloodedly planning, however, was not any run-of-the-mill crime, but a mass killing of world-historic proportions.<\/p>\n

The ultimate significance of the Bush-Aznar transcript is that it constitutes one more piece of evidence for the prosecution of Bush and all those who conspired to launch the war of aggression against Iraq for war crimes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Bill Van Auken The transcript of February 2003 discussions between US President George W. Bush and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar published Wednesday by Spain\u2019s largest daily, El Pais, provides fresh documentary confirmation of what is already a widely known historical fact. That is: the Bush administration was determined to wage a war […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[27],"class_list":{"0":"post-1372","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-latest-news","7":"tag-bush"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1372\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}