SEASON ONE - Episode two : After The Invasion...The Occupation

Who Killed de Mello?

In early Feb, Colin Powell gave a 90-plus minute speech at the UN Security Council about Iraq’s "certain" WMD and Zarqawi. Many years later he described it as the worst day of his life, for he misinformed the world about Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction by sharing inaccurate information gathered by US intelligence. Mr. de Mello met with G. W. Bush to discuss the Guantanamo detention center, and asked the US president to let the detainees’ families know the whereabouts of their male relatives (for some reason I forgot to mention this in this episode) In May, de Mello arrived Baghdad, so did Paul Bremer, he was the head of the Coalition Provisional Authority. The first thing he did was damage Iraq irrecoverably by dismantling the Iraqi Army. Mr. de Mello was unable to act freely in Iraq, as the UN Security Council voted for Resolution 1483-- transferring the authority to seize Iraq’s oil revenue from the United Nations to the Coalition Provisional Authority. De Mello's role was per 1483 a humanitarian role not political.