Powell ignorant of Zimbabwean situation
Posted: Wednesday, July 2, 2003By Willmore Kanyongo, US www.herald.co.zw
It is clear the US Secretary of State - Colin Powell - is totally ignorant of the Zimbabwean situation.
The article he wrote and which was published in The New York Times on June 24 has further shown him as a shameless liar, who has habitually sought to build his foreign policy on utter fabrication.
His country invaded Iraq on the pretext that there was evidence of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) which falsehood he presented to the United Nations.
He and his government - several months after the invasion - are yet to go back to the world body with evidence of piles of WMD from Iraq.
His administration has now changed the tone and has resorted to talking about Iraq's WMD programme.
Wait a minute - did the US invade Iraq on the basis of a WMD programme or piles and piles of WMDs?
The Americans certainly fooled the world and they intend to continue fooling it!
Again in his article in The New York Times, Powell asserts that "... the country's once thriving agricultural sector collapsed last year after President Robert Mugabe confiscated commercial farms..."
He goes on to charge that "... his cynical 'land reform' program has chiefly benefited idle party hacks and stalwarts".
First of all, Powell makes a false claim in asserting the collapse of agricultural activity in Zimbabwe and much as he travels, he remains ignorant of his own black history in the United States.
He wishes to conveniently ignore the historically skewed land ownership system in Zimbabwe which the British are responsible for and have not remedied.
He is also unaware that senior MDC leaders like Welshman Ncube have benefited from the land reform program.
It seems to me that a Zimbabwean A-level student could analyse these issues better than Powell showed in his flimsy article.
As he himself has chosen money and conservative political thinking over his black history, he imagines that Zimbabweans should also choose money over their national history as he pins his Zimbabwean foreign policy on blackmail in stating that "With the president (Mugabe) gone,... the United States would be quick to pledge generous assistance..."
Maybe Colin Powell is unaware that this is not the first time the United States has either promised money or actually given money. Muzorewa is a case in point. He was persuaded to dissociate himself from the process of liberation, of which President Mugabe was the vanguard.
In the case of Muzorewa, American money did not work and in the case of the monetary promises at Lancaster House, we are now wiser that they were a hoax meant to allow Rhodesians to consolidate their illegal land ownership rights.
The hallmark of US foreign policy is money and deception as the Iraq and Zimbabwean cases show.
In his article, Powell also states: "The United States - and the European Union - has... frozen their (Zimbabwean leaders) overseas assets." That is just mere propaganda!
What assets have you frozen and why haven't you made them public.
President Mugabe openly declared that if they were to find even kobiri chairo - if you know it Mr Secretary - you should donate it to charity or maybe to some of your brothers and sisters who litter American streets jobless, without shelter and food.
Oh, by the way, can't you solve this problem first before Mr George W. Bush sends you to a land you know nothing about?
The secretary of state also seems to question the mandate bestowed upon President Mugabe by the people of Zimbabwe when he insisted on "... constitutional changes to allow for a transition."
The entire world knows that there were no constitutional changes that were effected when the government which he now serves was selected and not elected into office by Republican Justices in the US Supreme Court.
I think he should be questioning the legitimacy of his master and remove the log in his own eye, before he questions that of our beloved President Mugabe.
How about the leader of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf, who Mr Bush recently wined and dinned with at Camp David? When was he elected into power?
I was not aware that Americans can associate with non-elected heads of state, especially coup leaders like Musharraf.
Powell also proffered a favourite American line when they have to deal with a government they do not like.
He said: "We will persist in speaking out strongly in defence of human rights and the rule of law."
What happened in Uganda when an opposition leader was harassed and imprisoned after elections there?
Isn't Yoweri Museveni an American darling? What happened when a court in Malawi recently blocked the deportation of five suspected Al Queda members?
Is there no suspicion that your government is having these whisked to Quatanamo Bay?
By the way, what rule of law applies in Quatanamo Bay and what human rights?
American foreign policy has always been underpinned by double talk, double standards, deception and false promises of money if certain leaders are removed.
By the way, is American money still flowing into Zambia and what has happened to the American-funded trade unionist there?
Zimbabweans should be wary and not succumb to these American machinations.
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