A friend poses a good question
saddam has odered any scientist \ biologist \ weapons specialist who co-operate with u.n. inspectors, along with thier families killed. and people dont want to go to war with him…….what the hell are they thinking?
I’ve so far refrained from posting much on Saddam. Partly because it’s being done to death and partly because the whole argument is an exercise in futility. His offenses are plain. The need for action is self-evident. And yet the world persists in granting him chance after chance to do right, make amends, and avoid the hammer-fall.
I no longer think the war is inevitable. The French have made it fairly plain they’ll veto any Security Council resolution approving military action. Naturally, while they couch this in humanitarian, leftist, diplomatic fashion their real motives are purely economic. The frogs have most of the oil contracts with Saddam, when he goes their contracts are invalidated. Ergo, they have a vested interest in keeping him in power. German motives for opposition are closer to home, Schroeder made it a campaign issue to “stand up to” the United States to draw attention away from his own failures. Having made so spectacular a promise he can’t very well go back on it.
We’ve simply waited too long. We’ve given the opposition time to organize. We’ve allowed the talking heads to monopolize their idea of the “moral high ground” – although as my friend points out, morality is completely on our side. Sure, the President’s strategy will point out that the UN is a straw man, completely incapable to defend its own founding principles but what good does that do us? The incapacity for defense has somehow become a laudable state, the fact that you won’t go to war – even against the most monstrous regime since Hitler/Stalin (take your pick) – has somehow become praiseworthy. The ability to project military power around the globe in the name of liberty and security has become something to be feared and resented and somehow barbaric.
Piffle. The world doesn’t deserve us. I’d go back to arguing for isolationism – let the buggers stew in their own juices – except that the forces of evil (Iran, Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia, China, North Korea, France, Germany, etc) would take that as a sign of surrender and only press the attack further.
Maybe we do need to take a page from the peaceniks’ book. When they scent blood they don’t stop until the animal is dead. When do we start hunting?