March 24, 2004 -- “Every
civilised nation has a stake in preventing the spread of weapons of
mass destruction... We’re determined to confront those threats at the
source”, US President George Bush declared in a February 11 speech.
“We
will stop these weapons from being acquired or built. We’ll block them
from being transferred. We’ll prevent them from ever being used. One
source of these weapons is dangerous and secretive regimes that build
weapons of mass destruction to intimidate their neighbours and force
their influence upon the world.”
Arguing for combative new “arms control” measures that would
further entrench the West’s control over nuclear weapons, Bush casually
repeated the now thoroughly exposed lie that the US-led war against
Iraq was launched because Baghdad “refused to disarm or account for ...
illegal weapons and programs”.
Bush used the speech to signal that Iran remains in
Washington’s gun-sights, alleging that Tehran “is unwilling to abandon
a uranium enrichment program capable of producing material for nuclear
weapons”. Bush also demanded that North Korea “completely, verifiably
and irreversibly dismantle its nuclear programs”.