Here is the key point of the article below which is well buried (as
expected):

"It [US administration] was particularly angered by Senhor Bustanis moves
to woo Iraq, which Washington hardliners believe will make any military attack on Baghdad more difficult."


   America forces out UN arms director
   By Michael Binyon

   April 23, 2002  The Times

   JOSÉ BUSTANI, the embattled director-general of the world body
   monitoring chemical weapons, was dismissed yesterday when most of the
   member states supported an American move to oust him.

   Forty-eight of the 145 members of the Organisation for the Prevention
   of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) voted to dismiss Senhor Bustani, the first
   head of the organisation, who was re-elected for a further four years
   last May. Only seven countries supported him; a further 43 abstained.

   A stormy two-day meeting in The Hague heard lengthy accusations
   against him by the Americans, although the US delegate was booed when
   he failed to produce the promised evidence. After the vote a
   devastated Senhor Bustani stormed out of the conference hall, threw
   his hands in the air and said he had lost his job.

   The Americans accused the Brazilian head of the OPCW of a habit of
   refusing to consult with member states and cited his proposed new
   anti-terrorism measures after September 11, which were not first
   cleared with the US.

   The State Department called his management disastrous and blamed him
   for not resigning after losing a vote of confidence last month. It
   accused him of threatening inspections in five unspecified countries
   for political ends.

   Senhor Bustani gave an impassioned defence of his tenure. He called
   the US accusations against him false and said that the meeting would
   decide whether genuine multiculturalism will survive, or whether it
   will be replaced by unilateralism in a multilateral disguise. He
   added: I refuse to resign under pressure from a small handful of
   member states. He said before the vote that his dismissal would be
   illegal because the convention does not allow for such a dismissal.

   America called the special session of the OPCW to force him out and
   was supported by Britain, Germany and all European Union and Nato
   countries, with most of Eastern Europe and several former Soviet
   states.

   Those supporting him were Russia, China, Iran, Cuba, Belarus, Mexico
   and his own country, Brazil. Most of Africa, Asia and Latin America
   abstained.

   The United States had co-sponsored Senhor Bustani for re-election, but
   the change of Administration in Washington led to a swift reappraisal.
   The Bush Administration, determined not to be bound by multilateral
   agreements, has resented the restrictions of the Chemical Weapons
   Convention. It was particularly angered by Senhor Bustanis moves to
   woo Iraq, which Washington hardliners believe will make any military
   attack on Baghdad more difficult.

   Senhor Bustani accused the White House of trying to push him out
   because of his independence from Washington. He said that he had been
   blamed for seeking Iraqs membership of the Chemical Weapons
   Convention, even though that was in full accordance with the United
   Nations Security Council decision.

   American officials have briefed intensively but anonymously against
   Senhor Bustani. One said that his lapses are not legal crimes;
   nonetheless they are severe mismanagement policies, which
   significantly impede the effectiveness of the organisation.

   Several EU countries said privately they feared that unless they voted
   with the United States, America, which pays more than a fifth of the
   budget, would walk out of the UN body. The US has paid only half this
   years dues and the OPCW is deeply in debt.

   A senior member of the OPCW said after the vote that the American
   arm-twisting was clearly horrendous. He said: We are now living in a
   completely different world.

   Copyright 2002 Times Newspapers Ltd.

 

   http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,3-276297,00.html