Posted on 09/24/2002 11:51:53 AM PDT by Protagoras
Don’t Start the Second Gulf War
The case against war with Iraq.
By Doug Bandow
August 12, 2002, 9:00 a.m.
President George W. Bush says that he hasn't made up his mind about "any of our policies in regard to Iraq," but he obviously has. To not attack after spending months talking about the need for regime change is inconceivable. Unfortunately, war is not likely to be the simple and certain procedure that he and many others seem to think.
Lots of arguments have been offered on behalf of striking Baghdad that are not reasons at all. For instance, that Saddam Hussein is an evil man who has brutalized his own people.
Certainly true. But the world is full of brutal regimes that have murdered their own people. Indeed, Washington ally Turkey's treatment of its Kurds is scarcely more gentle than Iraq's Kurdish policies.
Moreover, the U.S. warmly supports the royal kleptocracy next door in Saudi Arabia, fully as totalitarian, if not quite as violent, as Saddam's government. Any non-Muslim and most women would probably prefer living in Iraq.
Also cited is Baghdad's conquest of Kuwait a dozen years ago. It is a bit late to drag that out as a justification for invading Iraq and overthrowing Saddam. He is far weaker today and has remained firmly contained.
Richard Butler, former head of the U.N. Commission on Iraq, complained to the Senate Foreign Relations that Iraq had violated international law by tossing out arms inspectors. In fact, there are often as many reasons to flout as to obey U.N. rules. Washington shouldn't go to war in some abstract pursuit of "international law."
Slightly more plausible, at least, is the argument that creating a democratic system in Iraq would provide a useful model for the rest of the Mideast. But that presupposes democracy can be easily planted, and that it can survive once the U.S. departs.
Iraq suffers from significant internal stresses. Convenient professions of unity in pursuit of democracy from an opposition once dismissed by Mideast special envoy and retired Gen. Anthony Zinni as "silk-suited, Rolex-wearing guys in London" offer little comfort and are likely to last no longer than have similar promises in Afghanistan.
Also problematic are Kurdish demands for autonomy and Shiite Muslim resistance to the central government. One defense official told the Washington Post: "I think it is almost a certainty that we'd wind up doing a campaign against the Kurds and Shiites." Wouldn't that be pretty? <
There are external threats as well. Particularly worrisome would be covert and possibly overt action by Iran, with which Baghdad fought a decade-long war and which might see intervention against a weakened Iraq as an antidote to serious political unrest at home.
Indeed, the U.S. backed Baghdad in its conflict with Iran and decided not to depose Saddam in 1991, in part out of fear of Iranian aggression throughout the Gulf should Iraq no longer provide a blocking role. Keeping the Iraqi Humpty Dumpty together after a war might not be easy.
Moreover, while Americans might see America's war on Iraq as a war for democracy, most Arabs would likely see it as a war for Washington. If the U.S. deposes Saddam, but leaves in place friendly but despotic regimes elsewhere — such as Egypt, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia — few Arabs would take America's democracy rhetoric seriously. Nor should they. Yet to go to war against everyone, including presumably Iran, Syria, and maybe others, would have incalculable consequences.
Saddam's complicity in September 11 would present a good argument for devastating retaliation for an act of war, but there's no evidence that he was involved. All that exists is a disputed meeting, which might not have occurred, in the Czech Republic between hijacker Mohammed Atta and an Iraqi official.
Certainly Saddam shed no tears over the thousands who died on that tragic day, but he has never been known to promote groups which he does not control. In contrast to Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein is no Muslim fanatic looking forward to his heavenly rewards; moreover, he heads a government and nation against which retaliation is simple.
Probably the best, at least the most fearsome, argument for overthrowing Saddam is the prospect of Baghdad developing weapons of mass destruction. Yet if nonproliferation should be enforced by war, Washington will be very busy in the coming years.
The problem is not just countries like Iran and North Korea, which seem to have or have had serious interest in developing atomic weapons. It is China, which could use them in any conflict with the U.S. over, say, Taiwan. And India, Pakistan, and Russia, which face unpredictable nationalist and theological currents, enjoy governments of varying instability, and offer uncertain security over technical know-how as well as weapons.
Potentially most dangerous is Pakistan's arsenal. The government of Pervez Musharraf is none too steady; Islamabad long supported the Taliban and its military and intelligence forces almost certainly contain al Qaeda sympathizers. It is easy to imagine nuclear technology falling into terrorist hands.
An Iraqi nuclear capability seems less frightening in comparison. Saddam would not use them against America, since to do so would guarantee his incineration. Israel possesses a similarly overbearing deterrent.
Would Baghdad turn atomic weapons over to al Qaeda or similarly motivated terrorists? Not likely.
First, it would be extraordinary for Saddam to give up a technology purchased at such a high price. Second, Baghdad would be the immediate suspect and likely target of retaliation should any terrorist deploy nuclear weapons, and Saddam knows this.
Third, Saddam would be risking his own life. Al Qaeda holds secular Arab dictators in contempt and would not be above attempting to destroy them as well as America.
Of course, the world would be a better place without Saddam's dictatorship. But there are a lot of regimes that should, and eventually will, end up in history's dustbin. That's not a good reason to initiate war against a state which poses no direct, ongoing threat.
Especially since war often creates unpredictable consequences. Without domestic opposition military forces to do America's dirty work, Washington will have to bear most of the burden. The task will be more difficult and expensive without European support and Saudi staging grounds.
If Iraq's forces don't quickly crumble, the U.S. might find itself involved in urban conflict that will be costly in human and political terms. If Baghdad possesses any weapons of mass destruction, Saddam will have an incentive to use them — against America, Israel, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia — since Washington would be dedicated to his overthrow.
Further, the U.S. would be sloshing gasoline over a combustible political situation in friendly but undemocratic Arab regimes stretching from North Africa to Southeast Asia. Israelis and Palestinians are at war, America continues to fight Taliban and al Qaeda forces in Afghanistan as the pro-western government teeters on chaos, fundamentalist Muslims rule western Pakistan, and Muslim extremists are active a dozen other countries. Yet the administration wants to invade Iraq. Riots in Egypt, a fundamentalist rising in Pakistan, a spurt of sectarian violence in Indonesia, and who knows what else could pose a high price for any success in Iraq.
War is a serious business. Making war on a country which does not threaten the U.S. is particularly serious. Even if the optimists who think a campaign against Iraq would be easy are right, and we can only hope they are, war should be a last resort. As House Majority Leader Richard Armey warned, an unprovoked attack "would not be consistent with what we have been as a nation or what we should be as a nation."
There's certainly no hurry to go to war. Nothing is different today from September 10, 2001, or any time since Iraq was ousted from Kuwait. Observes Jim Cornette, formerly an expert in biological warfare with the Air Force: "We've bottled [Saddam] up for 11 years, so we're doing okay."
There are times when Washington has no choice but to fight. Iraq is not such a place and now is not such a time.
— Doug Bandow is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and a former Special Assistant to President Ronald Reagan.
There lies the basis for are disagreement. If we don't agree with the basis for our government then we will never agree with the process. Thank God your the extreme minority.
There's a huge difference between choosing an individual target and choosing to bomb an entire country.
I see no difference. Deciding to kill the people of a country are all based on secret information. Its no different to those doing the bombing or those getting bombed. However, you have no inherent right to know the details. Your government is not obligated to tell you this. They have the right to make war on your behalf and have no obligation to tell you why. That is one of the reasons you must be carefull who you elect to office. That is one of the reasons many are thankfull to God that Bush and not Gore was elected and may also be one of the chief reasons the GOP has held their own in recent national polls.
Thats pretty specious reasoning. He wouldnt be the only suspect and he's pretty good at covering his tracks and taking "risks" (please note his record of enormous risk taking).
He's the one guy who might do this if it served his hegemonist interests and certainly, he cares not a whit about anybody, even his clan back in Tikrit. In this way, he is markedly different than most of the other despots in the world (Pol Pot being a notable exception)
In conclusion.. a risk taker, meglomainiac who has forfeited over 200 billion dollars in revenue through sanctions (sound like a sane guy to you?), and a guy who lost tens of thousands of men in an 8 yr war who turned around 2 yrs later and lost scores of thousands on top of that, and still he hears nothing but his own voice.
He answers to no one, and his revenue stream flows easily (unlike N Korea, for ex, which is hemmed in by China, etc) Sorry, guy, this tyrant has no peers. He stands alone (yet he's definitely vulnerable.. Go figure)
Sen Fred Thompson confirms Iraq is threat to U.S.
Links to information on Iraqi Nuclear Weapons Systems and Design (VERY Scary!)
Well, yeah, somethin like that.
Are you too young to remember the Gulf of Tonkin?
Not quite, but any clock is right twice a day.
I am tired of casting pearls before swine...
I will mock them at every turn on every thread until they give up and leave FR or reconsider and ammend their own thought process'.
.gifs, .jpegs, tomfoolery, foolish chatter...whatever.
It is a tactic of Liberals but equally as potent when focused against Libertarians and strict Constitutionalists.
Answer that one yourself, your argument assumes that the innocent casualties of war (who you also assume would rather be alive under the Taliban) outweigh those who celebrated.
But a Democrat did that and everyone knows that Republicans don't lie.
And the War on Terrorism is not only to those responsible for Sept. 11th. Bush already said that. These guys are idiots.
After a year:
No armed pilots.
Puny Administration Defense budget.
No 100% checking of air baggage. (While old white folks and babies continue to be body searched).
No firing of Norm Mineta.
No closing of borders.
No change in immigration policy (thousands of Arabs have poured into our country since 9/11).
Etc., etc, ad nauseam.
Why is it assumed that the President feels this way? While many in the media and on these boards do seem to feel that way I find it unlikly that our President does. He has all of the military's best minds, including those critical of the war, advising him. So why would he carry on in a belief in opposition to all the best evidence our country can gather. It is far more likely that he has considered the costs, however high they may be, and decided the costs are worthwhile.
None of the conditions you list should matter if you consider it a just or unjust war. Try to answer as best you can.
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