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SATIRE
The case for regime
change
By Ted Rall
NEW YORK -
Making the case for United Nations intervention against
the United States, Iranian President Mohammad Khatami
has told the organization that military action will be
"unavoidable" unless the US agrees to destroy its
weapons of mass destruction.
In a
much-anticipated speech to a special session of the UN
General Assembly held in Brussels, Khatami launched a
blistering attack against American leader George W Bush,
accusing him of defying UN resolutions and using his
country's wealth to line the pockets of wealthy cronies
at a time when the people of his country make do without
such basic social programs as national health insurance.
"Nearly two years ago, the civilized world
watched as this evil and corrupt dictator subverted the
world's oldest representative democracy in an illegal
coup d'etat," said Khatami. "Since then the Bush regime
has continued America's systematic repression of ethnic
and religious minorities and threatened international
peace and security throughout the world. Thousands of
political opponents and ordinary citizens have been
subjected to arbitrary arrest and imprisonment. Basic
civil rights have been violated. This rogue state has
flouted the international community on legal, economic
and environmental issues. It has even ignored the Geneva
Conventions on the treatment of prisoners of war by
denying that its illegal invasion of Afghanistan - which
has had a destabilizing influence throughout Central
Asia - was a war at all."
Khatami said the US
possesses the world's largest arsenal of nuclear
weapons, weapons "that, when first developed, were used
immediately to kill half a million innocent civilians
just months after acquiring them. No nation that has
committed nuclear genocide can be entrusted with weapons
of mass destruction.
"Bush has invaded
Afghanistan and is now threatening Iraq. We cannot stand
by and do nothing while danger gathers. We can't for
this tyrant to strike first. We have an obligation to
act pre-emptively to protect the world from this
evildoer," Khatami said.
As delegates punctuated
his words with bursts of applause, Khatami noted that US
intelligence agencies had helped establish and fund the
world's most virulent terrorist organizations, including
al-Qaeda, and the Taliban regime that harbored them.
"The US created the Islamist extremists who attacked its
people on September 11, 2001," he stated, "and Bush's
illegitimate junta cynically exploited those attacks to
repress political dissidents, make sweetheart deals with
politically-connected corporations and revive 19th
century-style colonial imperialism."
Khatami
asked the UN to set a deadline for Bush to step down in
favor of president-in-exile Al Gore, the legitimate
winner of the 2000 election, the results of which were
subverted through widespread voting irregularities and
intimidation. "We favor not regime change, but rather
restoration and liberation," he said. In addition,
Khatami said, the US must dismantle its weapons of mass
destruction, guarantee basic human rights to all
citizens and agree to abide by international law or
"face the consequences."
Most observers agree
that those "consequences" would likely include a
prolonged bombing campaign targeting major US cities and
military installations, followed by a ground invasion
led by European forces. "Civilian casualties would
likely be substantial," said a French military analyst.
"But the American people must be liberated from
tyranny."
Khatami's charges, which were detailed
in a dossier prepared by French President Jacques
Chirac, were dismissed by a representative of the
American strongman as "lies, half-truths and misguided
beliefs, motivated by the desire to control a country
with oil, natural gas and other natural resources."
National Security Minister Condoleezza Rice denied that
the US maintains weapons of mass destruction and invited
UN inspectors to visit Washington to "see for themselves
that our weapons are designed only to keep the peace,
subject of course to full respect for American
sovereignty."
The UN is expected to reject any
conditions for or restrictions on arms inspections.
Experts believe that the liberation of the United States
will require a large ground force of European and other
international troops, followed by a massive rebuilding
program costing billions of euros. "Even before Bush,
the American political system was a shambles," said
Professor Salvatore Deluna of the University of Madrid.
"Their single-party plutocracy will have to be reshaped
into true parliamentary-style democracy. Moreover, the
economy will have to be retooled from its current
military dictatorship model - in which a third of the
federal budget goes to arms, and taxes are paid almost
exclusively by the working class - to one in which basic
human needs such as education and poverty are addressed.
Their infrastructure is a mess; they don't even have a
national passenger train system. Fixing a failed state
of this size will require many years."
Ted
Rall's latest book, a graphic travelogue about his
recent coverage of the Afghan war titled To
Afghanistan and Back, is now in its second edition.
Ordering and review-copy information are available at
nbmpub.com.
© Ted Rall, distributed by
Universal Press Syndicate/Ted Rall
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