[Oplenac]

I saw the last part of "Wide Angle," on PBS. James "Jamie" Rubin was interviewing Richard Perle of the Pentagon. Here, was James Rubin, a minor yet deadly player in the destruction of Yugoslavia--so close to Thaci in friendship and in spirit(Has he no memory of what happened to the Jews of the Balkans during WWII?)--here was Rubin discussing with Perle the destruction of another country, Iraq. Rubin asked Perle if The US allies would help pay for the reconstruction of Iraq after Saddam is deposed, no doubt, with extensive damage to Iraqi infrastructure. Perle's response was direct: Iraq is a rich country and will be able to pay for its own reconstruction. Did Perle even mention oil? But here you see what the planners and managers are thinking. A totally devastated Iraq will have to use its oil to cover its debt, and interest payments, much as the Congo is strangled even amidst its immense natural resources. The fawning Rubin nodding in agreement, not a thought apparently given to the over a million innocent dead Iraqis because of a failed and inhumane US policy. And no thought for the tens of thousands more innocent deaths to come if Iraq is attacked, destabilizing the entire region, and creating an environmental catastrophe. Rubin is young and should think of these things. Not Perle. His is a face of one who gorges on falsehood and for that is forever hungry. He manifests--as the US more and more does--the deadly hubris that knows nothing but its own power, needing continually to exert it. As Banat says: Iraq is not one person. There has to be some way to help the people--without killing them! The US employed that strategy in Vietnam, another time of hubris. Here is another PBS interview with Richard Perle http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/gunning/interviews/perle.html

[ABrit]

IRAQ is a country rich in resources, resources which are being spent by a megalomaniac dictator, not to benefit his own people, but to benefit himself. IRAQ is developing weapons of mass destruction, and will use them. Anyone who waits for that to happen first is guilty of the crime of negligent homicide, as bad as if someone who had for-knowledge of 9/11 and let it happen. Saddam can let weapons inspectors have full access, or he can take the consequences.

Not doing anything now is as bad as leaving a mass murder, armed with a machine gun, in a room full of innocent people