Re: Halabja

["farbuthnot" <asceptic@DELETETHISfreenetname.co.uk>]

Could Sir Terence kindly confirm the exact dates of David Mellor's visit to
Iraq and with whom he met, accompanied by Sir Terence (presumably this will
be in the public domain, since the tax payer was paying - oddly I can't
trace anywhere - but am an ackonowledged computer illiterate.) Also if there
was any British interest brief regarding their companies and whether arms of
any sort, or other interests involved. kindest, felicity arbuthnot.

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>From: Terence Clark <Sir_Terence_Clark@compuserve.com>
>To: CASI <soc-casi-discuss@lists.cam.ac.uk>
>Subject: RE: Halabja
>Date: Sun, Jan 13, 2002, 11:58 am
>

> Message text written by "John Smith"
>>Sir Terence has set the record straight on one issue of fact, but he has
> used my inaccuracy to recreate some of the confusion about who carried out
> the attack on Halabja, an important issue which had been substantially
> settled by Glen's observations.
>
> It is interesting what Sir Terence does and does not say in his brief
> posting. He refers to the "two conflicting version of events", as if
> responsibility for Halabja is an open question.>
>
> Please read again what I wrote:
>
> " Leaving aside the enormous difficulties of verifying at the time
> either of the two conflicting versions of events, as they have been related
> on this List,"
>
> You have overlooked the three little words "at the time" and created your
> own confusion! I was referring to the genuine difficulty all of us had in
> the aftermath of Halabja of verifying what had happened. Halabja was
> completely out of bounds to independent observers and while the indications
> pointed to Iraqi responsibility, there were also reports circulating of
> Iranian use of cyanide shells. Both these versions were aired on this List
> recently. I no longer recall when reliable evidence of Iraqi responsibility
> became available but it was I am sure only much later.
>
> < He adroitly - or should I
> say maladroitly - sidesteps other parts of my statement: both the general
> point about the UK government's nefarious alliance with the Saddam regime
> during the period when he was London's representative in Baghdad, and the
> specific one about the UK government's role in protecting Saddam from UN
> censure for perpetrating the Halabja attack.>
>
> You misunderstand the point of my intervention which was not to comment on
> your  view of British policy towards Iraq, as the facts are widely on
> record, but purely to correct your unfounded allegations about the purpose
> and timing of David Mellor's visit to Iraq. You alleged: "the UK government
> sent
> David Mellor to Baghdad to negotiate a major arms contract while the bodies
> were still lying in the street [of Halbja]". I repeat that he did not
> negotiate any arms deals whatsoever and as his visit was 3 weeks before the
> attack on Halabja there were consequently no victims lying on the streets.
>
> <Sir Terence is undoubtedly in a position to shed light on these and many
> other questions of interest to the ordinary people of Iraq and the UK. It
> would be interesting to know, for instance, which arms deals he did help to
> arrange during the period in question (from, say, February 1988, which he
> describes as "well before Halabja", which took place on March 16th, to
> autumn of that year).>
>
> The short answer is none.
>
>
> Terence Clark
> --
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