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Beyond the Rhetoric: Accuracy.org/sc

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The Bush administration has repeatedly cited violations of UN Security Council resolutions as key reasons for its policy on Iraq. But several nations have Security Council resolutions pending against them, including Indonesia, Armenia and Croatia. And the violators with the most Security Council resolutions — more than Iraq — are Israel (over 30), Turkey (over 20) and Morocco (over 15). A partial listing of UN Security Council resolutions being violated by U.S. allies is available at: www.Accuracy.org/sc

The following analysts are available for interviews:

STEPHEN ZUNES
Zunes, who wrote the piece “United Nations Security Council Resolutions Currently Being Violated by Countries Other Than Iraq,” said today: “Bush administration claims that it is concerned with the integrity of the United Nations and the enforcement of Security Council resolutions are patently disingenuous. The governments of Morocco, Israel and Turkey are each in violation of more Security Council resolutions than is Iraq. Yet the United States provides these Middle Eastern allies with the financial and military wherewithal to continue their flouting of the Security Council and basic principles of international law.” Zunes is the chair of the Peace and Justice Studies Program at the University of San Francisco, the Middle East editor for the Foreign Policy in Focus Project and author of the recently released book Tinderbox: U.S. Middle East Policy and the Roots of Terrorism.
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PHYLLIS BENNIS
A fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, Bennis is author of the book Before and After: U.S. Foreign Policy and the September 11th Crisis. She said today: “In 1991 Bush bribed, threatened and punished UN countries to win Security Council authorization to attack Iraq. The real reason had far more to do with assuring the continuation of the U.S. as a superpower even as its superpower competitor was collapsing. U.S. policy for the last 12 years violated the UN Charter itself (through such things as murderous economic sanctions against Iraq) and supported other countries (like Turkey, Morocco, Indonesia and Israel) that continue violating UN resolutions. Now another Bush administration wants to invade Iraq in the name of Security Council resolutions, and wants to use the UN — created to prevent wars — to actually start one.” Bennis wrote the recent article “Veto” about the U.S. government’s repeated use of its veto of resolutions critical of Israel. Over the last three decades, the U.S. has used the veto far more than any other nation.
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ERIK LEAVER
Project associate at IPS, Leaver said today: “There are almost 100 current Security Council resolutions that are being violated, in addition to the dozen or so resolutions being violated by Iraq.”
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For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167