former Mexican Amb. to UN dies in auto accident....

[emcguffie]

He had been very critical of the US back in the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq. Hmmm. Apparently he lost control of his car.


http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=14505&Cr=zinser&Cr1=

Annan mourns death of former Mexican Ambassador to UN

Adolfo Aguilar Zinser
6 June 2005 – United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has expressed his deep sadness following the death of Adolfo Aguilar Zinser, who served as Mexico’s Permanent Representative to the UN from February 2002 until November 2003.

<snip>

According to Mexico’s UN Mission, Mr. Zinser, who was 55, died Sunday in a car crash near Mexico City.

[Spectral]

1. He was permanent ambassador?

:donut:

[emcguffie]

2. Excuse me. Permanent Representative to the United Nations...

or UN Ambassador.

My brain got twisted. It does that a lot these days.

[Spectral]

9. That's ok. I got confused too

I'm gonna go make some coffee

[Spazito]

3. Wow, I just saw him in the BBC documentary...

Iraq, Tony and the Truth. He certainly didn't back up Blair and bush regarding what happened in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq.

Here is what he said:

From the program transcript:

WARE: But would the American President really take yes for an answer? Mr Bush had already said he was committed to getting rid of Saddam's regime. The dictator may have begun to cooperate meaningfully with the inspectors. But Mr Blair now sought to dissuade the Security Council this was a sham. He needed enough votes to win the second resolution to persuade MPs an invasion would be lawful.

In New York the secret intelligence service MI6 asked for a meeting with the Mexican Ambassador to the UN.

ADOLFO AGUILAR ZINSER: This was in a room, a sealed room that closed like a safe deposit box in a bank, and full of all of this you know.. mystery.

WARE: MI6 were trying to persuade Mexico and other countries on the Security Council that there was an explanation for the failure of the inspectors to find any weapons. Saddam was hiding them.

ADOLFO AGUILAR ZINSER
Mexican Ambassador to the UN
2002-2003
And they had this pile of files on the table and there were three, four officers, and they begin to show us in a map. I asked them: "Do you have full proof of the existence of the weapons in any one of this particular sites that you are referring to?" And the MI6 officer told me: "No, we don’t."

WARE: We don’t?

ZINSER: "We don’t." It was very clear that they didn't have the proof, but they have circumstantial evidence of a funny behaviour, of a suspicious behaviour. But I knew that. We all knew that because that was what we were getting from the inspectors.

WARE: So you left that meeting less convinced than you were, not more convinced, less convinced.

ZINSER: Less convinced.


and this:

18 March 2003

BLAIR: Mr deputy speaker I beg to move the motion standing on the order paper in my name and those of my…

WARE: Mr Blair told MPs that but for France's threat to veto the second resolution, Britain might have won a majority in the Security Council for invasion.

BLAIR: Last Monday we were getting very close with it. We very nearly had the majority agreement…

WARE: But according to some of the diplomats involved in the actual negotiations, this was not true.

The statement from Mr Blair, and it's one of several in this vein, quotes: "We very nearly had a majority agreement" that doesn't…

ADOLFO AGUILAR ZINSER
Mexican Ambassador to the UN
No, we were never close to have a majority win, never.

WARE: We very nearly achieved agreement he said. What about that one?

ZINSER: We were never close to that. Not that we meant that will have satisfied the Americans.

Link to the transcript:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/programmes/panorama/transcripts/iraqtonyandthetruth.txt

[emcguffie]

7. He was like a breath of fresh air. Couldn't last. n/t

[psychopomp]

10. I saw that, too! Unbelievable!

I was impressed by his bold, outspoken position on the credibility of the US position vis a vis the buildup to the Iraq war.

This is a terrible shock.

[Al-CIAda]

4. Did he get an invitation to testify before Conyers next week? n/t

[emcguffie]

8. Did he? I'd like to know.

That would make the timing make sense.

Anyone read "Confessions of an Economic Hitman"?

Some other dead Latin Americans who wouldn't go along with what the US wanted are mentioned. I haven't read it, but I did read the Democracy Now interview with the author.

[Mass_Liberal]

5. erm

don't you think you should have a l'il bit of evidence before opening that door?

[emcguffie]

6. Why don't you read about him?

Of course, it isn't necessarily so, but an awful lot of enemies of some people die mysteriously.

He was so anti-Bush he was recalled. Now he's dead.

At the United Nations during the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, Aguilar Zinser was a vocal critic of the Bush administration's desire to use military force. That caused a political nightmare for Fox, who was trying to balance his desire not to provoke Washington's ire with Mexican public opinion that overwhelmingly was against the use of U.S. military force in Iraq.

Aguilar Zinser was ultimately recalled as U.N. ambassador in November 2003 after he gave a speech in which he accused the United States of dismissively regarding Mexico as its "back yard," a comment that then-Secretary of State Colin L. Powell called "outrageous."

"I am an undiplomatic diplomat," he wrote in an angry, unapologetic and public resignation letter in which he accused Fox of betrayal and the United States of ignoring international law.

(more)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/05/AR2005060501520.html?nav=rss_world

CUERNAVACA, Mexico - Adolfo Aguilar Zinser, Mexico's former ambassador to the United Nations who was forced out of his job after saying the United States treats Mexico like a "back yard," died Sunday in a car crash, police said. He was 55.

Known for his independent streak, Aguilar Zinser was a vocal critic of the United States' unilateral actions in Iraq during his tenure as U.N. ambassador. He left the position in late 2003 after a diplomatic flap touched off by his comments in November 2003.

more

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0607obit-zinser07.html

[psychopomp]

11. Heads up

n/t