Word: butlers
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Given his conviction that the Iraqis are in violation of international law and his belief that war is an acceptable remedy for such violations, does Butler see any reason for optimism in the current situation? "It's not particularly hopeful," he concedes. But having spent his entire career - with the exception of a brief foray into Australian domestic politics - working in foreign affairs and disarmament, he has not lost faith in the power of diplomatic persuasion. He holds out hope that...
...been three years since veteran Australian diplomat Richard Butler held the job of chief weapons inspector for the United Nations, but he is still no friend of Baghdad. Last week, as the U.N. rejected an Iraqi proposal to hold talks about the possible resumption of weapons inspections and the Bush Administration continued its saber rattling in Saddam Hussein's direction, Butler again found himself the target of Iraqi ire. "Hans Blix [head of the U.N.'s current weapons-inspection program] has inherited the same duties undertaken by the spy Butler," Iraq's Foreign Minister told one Arab newspaper. Butler...
...that it hears the drums of war beating, is nonsense." Undiplomatic language, perhaps, from a 60-year-old who has spent his career operating in the confines of foreign policy, where even the most banal utterances are carefully parsed. But where Iraq's weapons of mass destruction are concerned, Butler minces no words. "A complete lie" is how he describes Iraq's promises to comply with inspection: "From the beginning their declarations of what weapons they held were false." Though he and his team were hampered by lack of cooperation even before they were kicked out of the country...
...last international inspector to have had the opportunity to assess Iraq's weapons, Butler is in a unique position to judge how they might have evolved. He hesitates to make "wild remarks" but notes that there's every reason to believe Saddam Hussein's arsenal now includes far more weapons of mass destruction than during his tenure...
Russia - whose previous support of Iraq he blames for helping to stymie his inspection efforts - will together be able to convince Saddam to face inspections rather than war. Even the Iraqi leader's recent bellicose pronouncements don't convince Butler that the situation is irretrievable. "The Iraqis always carry on with such propaganda," he says. Given his firsthand experience of being the target of that propaganda, Butler's glimmer of optimism is both unexpected and welcome. Q&A TIME: What's the basis of your conviction that Iraq has a significant weapons-of-mass-destruction program? BUTLER: The evidence comes...