The Case for Regime Change

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Kinda funny...

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>> By Ted Rall
>>
>> The Case for Regime Change
>>
>> NEW YORK--Making the case for United Nations ( news - web sites)
>> intervention against the United States, Iranian President Mohammad
>> Khatami ( news - web sites) told the organization yesterday that
>> military action will be "unavoidable" unless the U.S. agrees to
>> destroy its weapons of mass destruction.
>>
>> In a much-anticipated speech to a special session of the U.N. General
>> Assembly held in Brussels, Khatami launched a blistering attack
>> against American leader George W. Bush, accusing him of defying U.N.
>> 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'état," 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 ( news - web sites)--which has had a
>> destabilizing influence throughout Central Asia--was a war at all."
>>
>> Khatami said the U.S. 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 allow 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 U.S. 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 U.S. 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 U.N. to set a deadline for Bush to step down in
>> favor of president-in-exile Al Gore ( news - web sites), 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 U.S. 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 U.S. 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 ( news - web sites) denied that the U.S. maintains
>> weapons of mass destruction and invited U.N. 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 U.N. 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 Prof. 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."
>>
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