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U.S. Threatened Allies on Iraq, Diplomat
Writes
Chilean Envoy to U.N. Recounts Threats of
Retaliation in Run-Up to Invasion
By Colum Lynch
Washington Post Staff Writer
23/03/.08 "Washington
Post " -- - - UNITED NATIONS -- In the months
leading up to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, the Bush
administration threatened trade reprisals against friendly
countries who withheld their support, spied on its allies, and
pressed for the recall of U.N. envoys that resisted U.S.
pressure to endorse the war, according to an upcoming book by a
top Chilean diplomat.
The rough-and-tumble diplomatic strategy has generated
lasting "bitterness" and "deep mistrust" in Washington's
relations with allies in Europe, Latin America and elsewhere,
Heraldo Mu¿oz, Chile's ambassador to the United Nations, writes
in his book "A Solitary War: A Diplomat's Chronicle of the Iraq
War and Its Lessons," set for publication next month.
"In the aftermath of the invasion, allies loyal to the United
States were rejected, mocked and even punished" for their
refusal to back a U.N. resolution authorizing military action
against Saddam Hussein's government, Mu¿oz writes.
But the tough talk dissipated as the war situation worsened, and
President Bush came to reach out to many of the same allies that
he had spurned. Mu¿oz's account suggests that the U.S. strategy
backfired in Latin America, damaging the administration's
standing in a region that has long been dubious of U.S. military
intervention.
Mu¿oz details key roles by Chile and Mexico, the Security
Council's two Latin members at the time, in the run-up to the
war: Then-U.N. Ambassadors Juan Gabriel Vald¿s of Chile and
Adolfo Aguilar Zinser of Mexico helped thwart U.S. and British
efforts to rally support among the council's six undecided
members for a resolution authorizing the U.S.-led invasion.
The book portrays Bush personally prodding the leaders of those
six governments -- Angola, Cameroon, Chile, Guinea, Mexico and
Pakistan -- to support the war resolution, a strategy aimed at
demonstrating broad support for U.S. military plans, despite the
French threat to veto the resolution.
In the weeks preceding the war, Bush made several appeals to
Chilean President Ricardo Lagos and Mexican President Vicente
Fox to rein in their diplomats and support U.S. war aims. "We
have problems with your ambassador at the U.N.," Bush told Fox
at a summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation in Los
Cabos, Mexico, in late 2002.
"It's time to bring up the vote, Ricardo. We've had this debate
too long," Bush told the Chilean president on March 11, 2003.
"Bush had referred to Lagos by his first name, but as the
conversation drew to a close and Lagos refused to support the
resolution as it stood, Bush shifted to a cool and aloof 'Mr.
President,' " Mu¿oz writes. "Next Monday, time is up," Bush
told Lagos.
Senior U.S. diplomats sought to thwart a last-minute attempt by
Chile to broker a compromise that would delay military action
for weeks, providing Iraq with a final chance to demonstrate
that it had fully complied with disarmament requirements.
On March 14, 2003, less than one week before the invasion, Chile
hosted a meeting of diplomats from the six undecided governments
to discuss its proposal. But then-U.S. Ambassador John D.
Negroponte and then-Secretary of State Colin L. Powell moved
quickly to quash the initiative, warning them that the effort
was viewed as "an unfriendly act" designed to isolate the United
States. The diplomats received calls from their governments
ordering them to "leave the meeting immediately," Mu¿oz writes.
Aguilar Zinser, who died in 2005, was forced out of the Mexican
government after publicly accusing the United States of treating
Mexico like its "back yard" during the war negotiations. Vald¿s
was transferred to Argentina, where he served as Chile's top
envoy, and Mu¿oz, a Chilean minister and onetime classmate of
Condoleezza Rice at the University of Denver, was sent to the
United Nations in June 2003 to patch up relations with the
United States.
In the days after the invasion, the National Security Council's
top Latin American expert, John F. Maisto, invited Mu¿oz to the
White House to convey the message to Lagos, that his country's
position at the United Nations had jeopardized prospects for the
speedy Senate ratification of a free-trade pact. "Chile has lost
some influence," he said. "President Bush is truly disappointed
with Lagos, but he is furious with Fox. With Mexico, the
president feels betrayed; with Chile, frustrated and let down."
Mu¿oz said relations remained tense at the United Nations,
where the United States sought support for resolutions
authorizing the occupation of Iraq. He said that small countries
met privately in a secure room at the German mission that was
impervious to suspected U.S. eavesdropping. "It reminded me of a
submarine or a giant safe," Mu¿oz said in an interview.
The United States, he added, expressed "its displeasure" to the
German government every time they held a meeting in the secure
room. "They couldn't listen to what was going on."
Mu¿oz said that threats of reprisals were short-lived as
Washington quickly found itself reaching out to Chile, Mexico
and other countries to support Iraq's messy postwar
rehabilitation. It also sought support from Chile on issues such
as peacekeeping in Haiti and support for U.S. efforts to drive
Syria out of Lebanon. The U.S.-Chilean free trade agreement,
while delayed, was finally signed by then-U.S. Trade
Representative Robert B. Zoellick in June 2003.
Mu¿oz said that Rice, as secretary of state, called him to ask
for help on a U.N. resolution that would press for Syrian
withdrawal from Lebanon. The United States had secured eight of
the nine votes required for adoption of a resolution in the
Security Council. Mu¿oz had received instructions to abstain.
"I talked to [Lagos], and he listened to my argument, and we
gave them the ninth vote," he said.
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