THESE ARE YOUR DEAD CHILDREN, PRIMEMINISTER -- Denmark/Iraq-war/debate

Bo Elkjaer boo at datashopper.dk
Sun Jun 22 06:07:13 PDT 2003


List

It's not only in USA and UK that pressure is mounting after the war.

As you may know, Denmark participated in the war against Iraq. This has
lead to an increasing pressure on the danish government as the evidence
of WMDs - and thus the reason to go to war - evaporates. Now there's talk
of public inquiries into the war.

The following articles were printed in Ekstra Bladet, the second largest
daily newspaper thursday, june 19, 2003.

The pictures of dead children mentioned in the articles can be found at
thememoryhole.org. (http://www.thememoryhole.org/war/gulfwar2/)

Yours
Bo Elkjaer, Denmark


THESE ARE YOUR DEAD CHILDREN, PRIME MINISTER

Shaken primeminister tries to evade weapons lies and bombed children: 'The
war is justified'

Ekstra Bladet does what apparantly no one else dares: We confront prime
minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen with the direct result of his, Bushs and
Blairs war on Iraq: Dead children.
  One of the pictures show a boy that has been horribly burned by
coalition bombs. Another picture is a close up of a boy who's head has
been blown to pieces.
  Two innocent children. Killed in a war based on a lie about weapons of
mass destruction. Conservative estimates say that at leas 5.500 civilians
died in the war. Others speak of up  to 10.000 killed civilian iraqis.
  After a long, heated debate in the foreign policy select comittee, where
primeminister Anders Fogh Rasmussen and foreignminister Per Stig Moeller
tried to justify the reasons for danish participation in the war and
talked about UN-mandate and international law, Ekstra Bladet asked the
primeminister:
  -- What is your opinion about the picture of the boy, who's head has
been blown of?
  'War is terrible', said primeminister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, visibly
shaken by the horror of the brutally killed iraqi boy.
  -- How do you feel about how the reason for war is obviously very thin,
yet it ended with  little children like this boy having their brains blown
away?
  'I think, that if your paper is going to bring pictures like these, then
it should bring other pictures too, the pictures of mass graves, showing
how Saddam Husseins regime murdered thousands of people. You should bring
those pictures too.'
  -- But these are YOUR dead children?
  'Yes, but now its interesting to see if you're going to show the
pictures of mass graves at the same time so the readers can have a fair
and balanced picture of, how horrible it is.'

THE WEAPONS ARE THERE
  In spite of the large civilian losses, in spite of how no weapons of
mass destruction has been uncovered in Iraq and in spite of how inquiries
have been launched both in the US and in UK, prime minister Anders Fogh
Rasmussen still has no doubts about the war.
  -- What you're discussing today is that you - both you and the foreign
minister - on several occasions, both in public and in the parliament has
declared with great certainty, that there were weapons of mass
destruction. Have you deceived the people and the parliament?
  'But listen! No! Certainly not! And I'd like to say, that it hasn't been
proved that they're not there. They just haven't been found yet.'
  'Everything shows that of course he had those weapons. They must be some
where.'
  -- You have no doubts about that?
  'Where in the world should they be, if he hasn't declared them?', says
the danish prime minister before he ends the interview and hurriedly
leaves the scene.


FOREIGN MINISTER
ON SLIPPERY ICE
'The evidence should be able to stand in court', the danish foreign
minister Per Stig Moeller said on september 6 last year.
  Today his demands of legally solid evidence against Iraq is completely
gone.
  'At no time did we say that we with certainty knew that he had those
weapons. What we said was that he had the threat of having the weapons.
He has used that threat to destabilize the entire region', says foreign
minister Per Stig Moeller today.
  -- But you said that the government was sure that Saddam Hussein had
weapons of mass destruction?
  'Not me. I haven't said that. I'm pretty sure I have said 'alleged
weapons of mass destruction'...'
  -- But Fogh said last september he had no doubts that Iraq had weapons
of mass destruction?
  'Well, yes. But you should talk to primeminister Anders Fogh Rasmussen
about that.'
  -- Are you rejecting what the prime minister said?
  'No! But you're interrupting me. See, now you interrupted me.'
  -- But today it suddently does'nt matter to you at all, whether Saddam
had those weapons of mass destruction?
  'Yes, you might say that. The important thing is that he used it as a
threat to the international society. And that he couldn't declare that he
had destroyed it. It was Saddam who needed to prove that he didn't have
it. That's what UN said all along.'


WHAT THEY SAID BEFORE THE WAR
Eight times in the same speach the foreign minister Per Stig Moeller on
march 21 said that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction. This is what he
said:
  'You have to go in with military force to remove Saddam Hussein and his
weapons of mass desctruction.'
  'He has hidden those weapons of mass destruction.'
  'You have to take the consequences and remove his weapons of mass
destruction.'
  'All aspects of the weapons of mass destruction programs should be laid
clear and the weapons destroyed. The same thing goes for the missiles.'
  'Then Saddam Hussein will sit there with his weapons of
massdestruction.'
  'This is a fight with Saddam Hussein because of his weapons.'
  'We all want to disarm him of his weapons of mass destruction.'
  'I'd like to thank for two days of long debates, where we have discussed
every element in  connection with participation in the fight with Saddam
Hussein and his weapons of mass destruction.'
  September 6 the danish foreign minister Per Stig Moeller said:
  'The evidence should be able to stand in court.'
  The same month the danish prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said:
  'I hold no doubt at all that he has weapons of mass destruction and that
he wants to produce them.'


THEY DECEIVED BOTH PEOPLE AND PARLIAMENT
In the middle of the long and heated debate about the Iraq war, MP Keld
Albrechtsen left the meeting to relieve himself. He was so shaken that he
completely forgot to go to the bathroom.
  'I can't get prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen and foreign minister
Per Stig Moeller to understand that they have deceived both the
parliament and the people', Keld Albrechtsen told the press outside the
meeting room.
  'They simply don't understand. But then we'll have to work for getting a
thorough inquiry which has to find out whether the government has
misguided or deceived the people. Something along the lines of what's
starting in the US.'
  'It has to be with the possibility of interrogating civil servants so we
can find out whether they knowingly deceived us and what stake the
intelligence services has in this', Keld Albrechtsen of the Unity Party
said before hastening in to the meeting again.
  MP Villy Soevndahl of the Socialist Peoples Party also wants an
independent inquiry while the socialdemocratic MP Jeppe Kofod talked
about a declaration from the government while keeping an eye on the
revelations in USA and UK.
  'Lets see what happens, then we can find out what to do about it here',
Kofod said.


By Bo Elkjaer and Kenan Seeberg, Ekstra Bladet, Denmark.
(www.ekstrabladet.dk)





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