Posted on 02/15/2003 1:34:11 AM PST by kattracks
Every time the UN Security Council hears from its disarmament inspectors, the case against Iraq grows stronger. That's what happened yesterday, despite what the French, Germans and other appeasers might contend. Only those willfully blind to Saddam Hussein's threat to the world now believe war is avoidable.After he eschewed compliance for 12 years, the United Nations gave Saddam another - final - chance in November to at last relinquish his long-range missiles and his biological, chemical and nuclear weapons. He has spurned the opportunity.
Chief inspector Hans Blix laid it all out in his report to the Security Council, saying that "many proscribed weapons and items are not accounted for." This includes tons of anthrax and VX nerve gas.
Blix also detailed 380 missile engines Iraq recently imported in outright violation of the international trade embargo. The engines are illegal because they're intended for long-range missiles, which Iraq is barred from possessing. Instead of disarming, the Iraqi dictator is adding to his arsenal.
All of this is in flagrant disregard of Security Council Resolution 1441, and diplospeak cannot sugarcoat or dismiss the truth.
Saddam could have actively assisted the inspectors and handed over his banned weapons. Instead, he denied their existence and challenged the inspectors to a game of hide and seek. As President Bush said, after a dozen years, the game is over.
Listening to Blix yesterday, one was reminded that he is, in the end, a diplomat answerable to all 15 members of the Security Council. He made very careful pronouncements. But it's not the rhetoric that counts, it is the facts.
The French and the rest of the surrender crowd might cling to a phrase here or there in Blix's report and plead for more time. But they're grasping at straws.
To Saddam, it's all a joke. Just like his new decree outlawing illegal weapons. Just like his two new Iraqi disarmament commissions, one to look for weapons and one for documents. He's playing the UN for a fool, and some of its members are all too eager to wear a jester's motley.
None of the propaganda matters. Real disarmament does, and Blix is still waiting for Saddam to offer "immediate, active and unconditional cooperation," in the words of Resolution 1441. But it's not up to Blix to decide when the clock has ticked out. That's the Security Council's call.
The U.S. and loyal allies like Britain and Spain want to stop the mockery and start disarming Saddam by force. Unlike France and Germany, they know that the real race against time is to act before Saddam deploys his terror weapons.
Some doves are vultures
The city - and the courts - were right to limit today's anti-war protest to a rally rather than a march. No one's free speech is being curtailed. Having a rally in one spot is a reasonable way to ensure security without inflicting censorship. And if the protesters feel the need to stomp their feet, they can always stomp in place.
The rally will attract many patriotic Americans who simply fear a war with Iraq. Sadly, though, it also will be a vehicle for anti-U.S. groups that are using the sentiments of good people to further their own warped political agendas.
An October anti-war demonstration in Washington was filled with so much America-bashing trash that it resembled an Al Qaeda meeting. The gathering was led by an anti-American, anti-Israeli group, ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism), the Stalinist Workers World Party and the cockamamie Ramsey Clark, the former U.S. attorney general who has befriended every kook on the international scene, from Saddam Hussein and Libyan dictator Moammar Khadafy to Nazis and the PLO. Quakers, these peaceniks are not.
The sponsor of today's rally, United for Peace & Justice, should avoid such poison. But with intolerant clods like Susan Sarandon and Harry Belafonte among the speakers, you never know.
Only psychotics enjoy war. War must always be the last resort. Sometimes, however, it comes down to a last resort. This is one of those times. If Saddam is not relieved of weapons of mass destruction, he will use them. He already has - and on his own people. We're still waiting for the rally against that genocide. Meanwhile, the U.S. and its allies will continue the thankless task of defending the world from the holocaust Saddam would unleash.
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BOMB, BOMB, BOMB iraq......remember the bomb, bomb, iran ditty for several years ago?
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