Bernard at Moon of Alabama has a most timely and interesting
post on the fate of Jose Bustani, the Brazilian diplomat who ran the Organization
for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons , recently awarded the 2013 Nobel Peace
Prize.
Bernard relates how Bustani was subjected to the unwelcome
attentions of John Bolton, the abusive ass in charge of bending international
institutions to the will of the neocons in the runup to the Iraq war, when Iraq
and Libya sought to remove a US casus belli pretext by acceding to the chemical
weapons regime.
The Bush administration was determined to block any efforts
by Iraq to reduce its peril by engaging with the international community on the
issue of weapons of mass destruction and forced Bustani from his post in 2002. The injustice of this action was confirmed by
an ILO judgment that awarded Bustani wages for the uncompleted years of his
term.
I did not know that.
I was aware of Bolton’s unsuccessful efforts to purge ElBaradei from the
IAEA, but not the issue of Bustani and the OPCW. Thanks again to Bernard for shining a light
on this dismal episode in American unilateralism.
By coincidence, today the Guardian gave Bolton space on its
Comment is Free page to tout his alternative to multilateral engagement through international
institutions for dealing with Iran: a military attack. I would like to think we’ve learned enough to
ignore John Bolton, but apparently that’s not the case.
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