‘Power is power” is the send-off lament of this Brazilian documentary, which looks back at a nearly forgotten episode in the long preamble to the second Iraq war, of 2003-11, one of breathtaking cynicism. The film centres on Brazilian diplomat José Bustani, who in 1997 was made director general of the intergovernmental Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). In the flush of 90s global village optimism, it was a utopian attempt to abolish this sadistic category of armaments once and for all.
After early success bringing many countries into the fold, Bustani attempted to get Saddam Hussein’s Iraq to accede to the organisation’s Chemical Weapons Convention. The OPCW knew that the first invasion had destroyed his chemical weapons production capability, and that any remaining stocks were past their sell-by date; letting in weapons inspectors benefited everyone, including ordinary Iraqis being squeezed by sanctions. Everyone but the George W Bush administration, that is. Needing a pretext for invading and not wanting Bustani to give Hussein a free pass, it began a campaign to oust him from the organisation.
