Dear Friend,

Please join Peter Gabriel, Annie Lennox, Thom Yorke of Radiohead, Brian Eno, Ryuichi Sakamoto,and many other cultural figures in speaking up on an important, last-minute issue.

This Sunday, April 21, the United States will seek to remove Jose Bustani, the head of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), from his post. Bustani's crime is essentially that he was too good at his job. Under his lead, according to the Guardian article copied below, "His inspectors have overseen the destruction of 2 million chemical weapons and two-thirds of the world's chemical weapon facilities. He has so successfully cajoled reluctant nations that the number of signatories to the convention has risen from 87 to 145 in the past five years: the fastest growth rate of any multilateral body in recent times."

But in the eyes of the US State Department, Bustani has been a nuisance. First, he's attempted to treat the US like any other signatory to the body, and the US, not unlike its enemy Iraq, is unsatisfied with the inspectors he's chosen. Second, he's actively working with Iraq to encourage it to accept inspectors, which would undercut support for a second US-led Gulf War. For these reasons, the State Department wants him deposed.

In a meeting this Sunday, the US will propose a vote of no confidence in Bustani, even though it hasn't specified the exact nature of his failings. If the UK votes with the US, yet another international, multilateral organisation will essentially become a proxy of the US government.

Please contact Minister for Foreign Affairs Yoriko Kawaguchi and urge her to "support Director-General Bustani and an independent Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons."

Just call:
+81 (0) 3-3580-3311

Then pass this message on to your friends and colleagues and urge them to write. Since the timing is so close, we need to get as many people involved as possible. And please send us a message at opcw@9-11peace.org so that we can keep track of how many contacts have been made.

A sample letter, drafted by Brian Eno and co-signed by many other cultural figures is copied below, as is an article by George Monbiot more fully explaining the situation.

Please act today to support an important international institution.

Sincerely,

--Eli Pariser, 9-11peace.org
April 19, 2002


SAMPLE LETTER
--------------------

Dear Minister of Foreign Affairs Kawaguchi,

We are writing to draw your attention to the very serious and urgent matter of the impending removal of the Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Jose Bustani, from his post. This follows a campaign led by the United States which is ultimately aimed at further clearing the way for an attack on Iraq. If the United States succeeds in its campaign for Bustani's removal, it will not only be a victory for unilateralism and a blow to the principles of multilateral cooperation, but it will also mean that the world will be brought one step closer to a second Gulf War.

Admittedly, this is only the latest in a series of attempts by the United States to disengage from, undermine and override international legal instruments and multilateral institutions. We have all witnessed the US's exceptionalism in recent years. It has refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, and torpedoed the statute creating the International Criminal Court. It has opposed the completion of negotiations to create a regime strengthening the Biological Weapons Convention, and indicated its intention to abandon the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. More recently it has "lost confidence" in the head of the International Panel on Climate Change, coincidentally following a consultation with US energy industry representatives. And after the failure of UNSCOM (largely the result of its use by the United States as an intelligence-gathering instrument), there are now reports that the CIA has been investigating the performance of Hans Blix, head of UNMOVIC, UNSCOM's successor.

The difference this time is that the stakes are higher, and more evident. The OPCW is the first ever global regime designed to verify the complete abolition of an entire category of weapons of mass destruction. The Bush administration is determined to remove the man who, over the last five years, successfully brought such alleged rogues as Iran, Sudan, Libya and Saudi Arabia into this multilateral disarmament regime. Bustani's mandate requires him to bring as many member states as he can into this regime, and for this reason he has consistently kept negotiations open with Iraq. In light of the Bush administration's preparations (both psychological and military) for an attack on Iraq, these negotiations are seen as highly inconvenient. The removal of Bustani would effectively mean the closing of one of the last peaceful routes to dealing with Iraq.

Also at stake is the independence of the OPCW, and with it the independence of all other international organisations. Their staff and directors will become vulnerable to removal by a dissatisfied member state, as long as that member state is sufficiently powerful, financially or otherwise. Bustani has repeatedly refused to act on the instructions of the United States in discrimination against other member states, stating over and over that his employers are the integrity of the Conference of States Parties. This has made him a thorn in the side of the US State Department, which Bush and his team are now determined to remove. The US has made unsubstantiated allegations to justify its motion of no-confidence, and has declined on every occasion to provide the evidence, or even to conduct a formal inquiry. Nor has it submitted any document to the Conference of States Parties to support its request for a no-confidence motion. Given the lack of substantive motives for Bustani's removal, the United States has resorted to character assassination in the press. And in order to ensure the success of its campaign, the United States has threatened to withdraw its funding of the organisation, which would leave the OPCW 22% worse off, and effectively crippled.

By making its voice heard in Washington, Japan would be keeping open a peaceful and multilateral route to a resolution in Iraq. More importantly, a defeat of the United States' motion would put a stop to the further deterioration of the international system of multilateral cooperation that has been built with such care and commitment since the end of the Second World War.

We urge you to take the lead at the Special Session of the OPCW which opens on Sunday 21 April, and to ensure that morality, good sense and international justice prevail.

Sincerely,


[Your Name]
[Your Address]
[Your Phone Number]