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Hans C. Graf Sponeck fue coordinador del programa de Naciones Unidas
para Iraq "Petróleo por alimentos" entre 1998
y 2000, fecha en la que dimitió de su cargo -como lo hiciera
antes el anteriorresponsable del programa, Denys Halliday- denunciando
el carácter genocida del régimen de sanciones impuesto
contra el pueblo iraquí desde 1990 y la inmoralidad e
ineficacia estructural del así llamado "programa
humanitario" del organismo internacional. Desde entonces
y hasta la actualidad, Sponeck y Halliday han mantenido una posición
pública de denuncia sin ambages de la política
de EEUU y del Consejo de Seguridad de Naciones Unidas en relación
a Iraq, contra la guerra y la ocupación, y de apoyo a
la soberanía del pueblo iraquí. Ambos han visitado
en varias ocasiones el Estado español invitados por el
CSCA y la CELSI.
 To an Unknown Iraqi
"Will You Ever Forgive
Us?"
CSCAweb
(www.nodo50.org/csca): 02-13-04
H.C. Graf Sponeck
UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq
(1998-2000)
Geneva, 1 June 2003
Will
you ever forgive us?
The torture of dictatorship
was terrible for you; we added the sword of sanctions. The curse
of double punishment for something you had not done was the verdict
against you. Two million of you died during those years, perhaps
more. The figure does not really matter. None should have died
because of us; everyone had the right to live, as we do, in peace.
Let us not forget the many who are still alive may never live
again, maimed and traumatized forever, reduced to empty human
shells. We never really wanted to share with you the dream of
freedom and democracy. All we were willing to pass on to you
was naked hypocracy.
Will
you ever forgive us?
The camera of life takes real
pictures. Lest we choose the wrong lenses they tell us the truth.
We cannot pretend that we did not know of your plight. We can
but admit that we have contributed to your suffering with unsurpassed
ferocity. We knew of the malnourishment of your children. We
knew of their deaths in the thousands and felt no guilt. Our
vision was properly priced, we thought. We did not hesitate a
moment to block ever increasing amounts of supplies you needed
for survival. They might be used for weapons of mass destruction
we argued. Ultimately we had to admit that the sanctions we imposed
on you were the most effective weapons of mass destruction deployed.
Will
you ever forgive us?
For a long time we limited
the amount of oil you could sell, and took from this limitation
funds to pay for wealthy governments and firms in compensation
for losses they said they incurred when your government was the
aggressor in Kuwait. We know that many of your children would
not have died had these funds come instead to you. We refused
to allow you resources to maintain your schools, hospitals,
roads and bridges, to pay for your civil servants, doctors and
teachers. We did not even shy away from withholding the meager
travel money you wanted to pay your hajjis so that they
could pray in Mecca.
Will
you ever forgive us?
It was our mandate to follow
the impact of our policies on your lives. We severely neglected
this responsibility. Intimidated by the power of the moment,
we closed our eyes and ears and ignored your pain. We decided
that the oil for food programme, the fig leaf of our conscience,
was good enough to give you what you needed. Your suffering therefore
had nothing to do with us, we pretended. Our former ally, your
dictator, was declared the sole source of your misery. Whoever
among us protested on your behalf was pronounced unpatriotic,
declared a social outcast, was belittled, maligned and even arrested.
This was democracy in action.
Will
you ever forgive us?
Of course, it did not escape
us that the most innocent and most vulnerable among you, your
children, the nation's leaders of tomorrow, were also the most
severely punished. Your children did not get the education you
and we have had. We purposely blocked the repair of your printing
presses and even introduced postal regulations to prevent sending
you learning materials, including sheets of music. As one of
you said, we destroyed your economy and continued to destroy
your minds. Again and again we withheld what you needed to make
your water safe to drink and to keep your rivers clean. Contaminated
water was a major reason why your children died. We did not care,
they were not our children.
Drought, pests and epidemics joined the forces of your dictator
and our sanctions. We could have increased the pittance we gave
to combat these menaces but chose not to do so.
Will
you ever forgive us?
There was indeed an axis of
evil, an alliance of governments, think-tanks, media and corporations
erecting a massive wall of disinformation. Iraq and Al Qaeda,
weapons of mass destruction and terrorism, we told the world,
were a lethal combination. Hundreds of tons of biological and
chemical agents, missiles, rockets and hordes of terrorists were
ready to destroy us. An imminent threat existed that only a preemptive
strike could avert. All those who pleaded for peace, humanity,
reason and law were subjected to and punished with 'shock and
awe' tactics before 'shock and awe' was rained upon you. With
cynicism we declared that 170 UN bureaucrats and three white
helicopters were not up to the job of disarming Iraq. Falsified
documents, plagiarized reports, invented intelligence helped
us to make our case for war by instilling fear among the innocent
and convincing our parliaments to concur.
We pretended to care for your sovereignty, yet, in direct contradiction
we unlawfully established no-fly-zones in your country and announced
that our pilots were there on dangerous missions, risking their
lives on your behalf. Instead they came to further weaken you
and risk your lives, not ours, before declaring war.
Will
you ever forgive us?
For a long time our spin doctors
tried to keep us hostage as we watched the tragedy of war and
illegality coming closer to your borders. Deep were the divisions
among us. Many feared for you while others could not wait to
begin a war that had been decided long ago. Our leaders needed
to distract us from urgent and numerous social and economic
problems. Our eviction from your next door neighbour was imminent.
Without your oil the strategy for global domination would not
work.
Will
you ever forgive us?
We told our young men and women
in uniform that they were fighting evil and defending the good.
Years of hard work spent refining the technology of death and
costing millions of dollars gave us the confidence that the losses
would be on your side and not on ours. We ensured that the reports
from the war front would portray us as heroes and you as the
villains, extensions of an evil dictator. As predicted the most
uneven war in history did not last long. Our new weapons were
simply too good. While we continued our lives in the comfort
of peace, we watched you suffering the horror of war. Honest
reporting of a war that was killing your sons and daughters
and ours as well could have meant the end of a career for a journalist.
Will
you ever forgive us?
There were few flowers, flags
or smiling faces. Where were those weapons of mass destruction
we assuredly would find? We suffered no guilt and made no apologies.
Unfortunately for you, no plan was made for starting the healing.
Victors are victors. Chaos suited us well but we made certain
that the oil administration was safe. Our concerns were not yours,
quite to the contrary. We watched and encouraged your anger and
hate. Yes, your dictator deserved it. However, the greed, yours
and ours, raped our common heritage. Your museums are empty,
your libraries burnt, your universities destroyed. Only your
pride is still there. and our guilt.
Will you ever forgive us?
Enlaces relacionados
/ Related links
Denis Halliday y Hans Von Sponeck: Una nación
rehén
Hans von Sponeck: "Iraq: una solución
política"
Hans von Sponeck: La resolución 1409 de
NNUU sobre Iraq, mucho ruido y pocas nueces
Hans von Sponeck: El 'farol' de Bush
Mensajes de Ramsey Clark y Hans von
Sponeck
("Crisis económica y política exterior de
EEUU. Perspectivas para la izquierda tras la elección
de Bush" - Madrid, marzo de 2001)
Intervención de Hans von Sponeck,
ex coordinador de NNUU para Iraq (Encuentro Internacional contra la Guerra - Madrid,
noviembre de 2002)
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