Mr. Hannity: Saddam Hussein was an evil outlaw, a cruel tyrant who deserves death.

My response: News of the evil character of Saddam Hussein has been greatly exaggerated. Hussein did flaunt the UN by refusing weapons inspectors entry into some parts of Iraq between 1987 and 1991 and between 1998 and 2002. He invaded Kuwait in 1990, and a few dishonorable troops in his army butchered scores of innocent people during that invasion. He unquestionably ran a tight ship of the central Mideast country, denying the Iraqi people many freedoms we take for granted and executing thousands of political dissidents. And when some treasonous Kurds and revolutionary Shiites plotted to overthrow Saddam's government in the 1980s, he overreacted by killing 175,000 people, most of whom were innocent.

(NOTE: This column No. 14 is the logical crux of my disagreement with Sean Hannity in this series. It explains that, since terrorism cannot be subdued by overwhelming military force, the "War on Terrorism" is unjust, illogical and defies common sense. Recognizing and addressing the popular grievances that fuel and encourage terrorist crimes--in other words, getting to the heart of the matter--is necessary for a genuine eradication of terrorism.)

Mr. Hannity: "[Saddam Hussein] was capable of using WMDs [weapons of mass destruction] against America ...our invasion was a beneficial thing." (p. 17)

My response: After more than five years of intense searching by US weapons experts, it has become evident that, as the regime of Saddam Hussein itself insisted, Iraq did not create a single weapon of mass destruction later than 1991.

Al Gore is now an Ambassador to the world, and to me that far surpasses anything a president in the military industrial complex can do to motivate a global response to this crisis now. I have always believed that those who serve their conscience serve well. Mr. Gore is now living proof of that  in showing us all that we can and must do it too.

Disarming Iraq, Hans Blix, 304 pages, Pantheon Books, New York, 2004.

Convoluted. That's the word that came to my mind after finishing this enlightening yet strongly opinionated account written by the high-profile man who was in charge of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and then the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), the two United Nations commissions responsible for divesting Iraq of illegal nuclear, chemical, germ and radiological armaments. On the one hand, Blix presents many unknown details regarding the twelve-year-long international efforts to ensure that Iraq was free of weapons of mass destruction and the Iraqi government's varying degrees of cooperation with those efforts, especially in the months prior to the US-led invasion of that country. But on the other hand, Blix--both as an inspector and in the book--permits his own bias to cloud his judgment, handles the entire affair in a roundabout and disconnected manner, and uses circular reasoning that leads nowhere.

By Julia Slatcher

This year, three large international bodies that have great influence on global reproductive health searched for new leaders. The selection processes for new heads of the United Nations, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria and the World Health Organization have evolved in unique ways - often involving back-room politicking and intrigue - requiring our scrutiny on many levels.

From Mark Weisbrot:

One of the nice things about a blog is that you can provide a few details that don't fit in columns or op-eds that the mainstream press runs. Below is a column I wrote that ran during the past week in a number of US newspapers. It provides some background, missing from almost all press coverage, about why President Hugo Chavez might see George W. Bush as "the Devil:" namely, the Bush administration's involvement in the 2002 military coup that briefly overthrew Venezuela's democratic government, and the administration's continued intervention inside Venezuela, to this day.

No, it's not the latest singing dancing Kermit doll (besides, I don't think he has any yellow).

Instead, it's a $100 laptop intended to be distrubuted to poor kids the world over.

For the fourteenth year in a row, the UN General Assembly yesterday adopted a resolution urging the US to end the embargo.
Not much coverage in the domestic media (no surprise), but the Canadians have it covered:

Stop Cuba embargo, UN tells Americans
Last Updated Tue, 08 Nov 2005 18:26:33 EST
CBC News

Almost every country in the United Nations General Assembly urged the U.S. Tuesday to end its four-decade-old embargo against Cuba.

The vote, held for the 14th year in a row, was approved by 182 to 4, with one abstention.

The resolution demanded that the U.S. lift its trade, financial and travel embargo and stop penalizing foreign firms that deal with the island nation.

Siding with the U.S. were Israel, Palau and the Marshall Islands. Micronesia abstained, while El Salvador, Iraq, Morocco and Nicaragua did not vote.

When will this utter stupidity end?  Cheney's Halliburton was happily concluding multi-million dollar contracts with the fundamentalists in Iran while trade with this poor Caribean nation is illegal!

The UN has long tried to gain access to Guantanamo and has finally received an invitation to go there - however, the 3 UN experts on torture and cruel treatment will not be allowed to meet with detainees!

"It makes no sense [to go]," Manfred Nowak, special investigator on torture and other cruel treatment, told a news conference at U.N. headquarters in New York. "You cannot do a fact-finding mission without talking to the detainees."

You got that right, Mr. Nowak!