Bjørn Stærk blog - Powell's evidence

Wednesday February 05, 2003 by Bjørn Stærk

Norwegian reactions to Powell's presentation to the Security Council today, on how Iraq violates resolution 1441:

Foreign Minister Jan Petersen calls it "thorough and detailed" and "impossible to overlook". The always optimistic leader of the Conservative Party is still afraid of the w-word, (begins with w, ends with ar), but insists that the "evidence is more than solid enough for the Iraqi leader to understand that he must now yield to world opinion". Both Petersen and former Labor leader Torbjørn Jagland wants to give Iraq a and-this-time-we-really-mean-it very, very last chance to cooperate with the inspectors.

Prime Minister Bondevik goes so far as admitting that the world has now moved closer to a war in Iraq, and says that Powell's evidence strengthens his impression that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction. Bondevik still won't say whether Norway will aid or even support a UN approved attack on Iraq. I suspect we may, but Bondevik and Petersen has some curious ideas about how an international forum like the United Nations is supposed to work. The way I always imagined it, member nations form opinions first, then vote (or attempt to influence those who can vote) in the Security Council. In Norway, apparently, we wait quietly for the UN to make a decision, then debate whether we agree with it. It's an interesting twist, a "brave break with convention", as well as a "rollercoasting edge-of-your-seat adventure", although some grumpy onlookers call it just plain political cowardice.

Wacky but popular Socialist Left leader Kristin Halvorsen says it's old news that Saddam Hussein is a bandit, but that an attack on Iraq won't make the world any safer. Notice the choice of words - I think a lot of people would have been very relieved today if Powell had proven Hussein a mere "bandit". Then again, "It's old news that Saddam Hussein is a homicidal maniac dictator who works tirelessly to build nuclear weapons, but an attack on Iraq won't make the world any safer", just doesn't have the same rhetorical effect.

Foreign Policy spokesman for the Progress Party, Morten Høglund, says Powell's presentation was "convincing and trustworthy", and he calls for Norway to join Denmark, Great Britain, Italy, Spain and other European countries in supporting UN approval for a war on Iraq. New Europe, here we come! The Progress Party has lain low on the Iraq issue, as well as the whole nasty American issue - (what else to call it?). What statements they have made, though, have been largely pro-American. I suspect that Hagen's heart is in the right place, but that his populist instincts have told him to keep down and await the situation. If so, there will never be a better time than now, towards the end of the diplomatic build-up, but before the war actually begins, to come out in support of the US. (Support for a multilateral war without UN approval is a lost cause, though, here as in most of Western Europe.)

Mullah Krekar, chief clown in his own bizarre media circus here in Oslo, felt unconvinced by Powell's arguments for an Hussein-Ansar-al-Islam-al-Qaeda connection. This should surprise noone, as until recently Krekar was the acting leader of Ansar-al-Islam, (an organization that deserves to be wiped out regardless of who it's connected to). As evidence of the enmity between him and Hussein, Krekar presented a letter from 1990 ordering his own assasination. He also warned that chemical weapons had been planted by Hussein in Iraqi's oil wells, to cause extra damage if put on fire. That's a curious thing to say, and I wonder who his source is.

Tomorrow, the pundits, assuming the process of reading them all doesn't incapacitate me. I can deal with the Norwegian media establishment one editor at a time - all at once, I'm just not sure the engine's up to it, captain.