Whither Iraq?
In these pages, I have often expressed my
support for extending the War on Terror to Iraq and
Saddam Hussein. If I had to choose which camp to
join—the antiwar protestors or the Bush
supporters—I would probably pitch my tent in
the latter. But, as with so many other issues, I
find myself most comfortable standing right in the
middle, between both extremes. It's no different
with this issue, though most of my recent
commentaries related to Iraq may have appeared to
wholeheartedly endorse a U.S.-led attack on Saddam
Hussein.
I vacillate on an almost daily basis. On the one
hand, I believe a regime change (if I can use a
phrase which has become a tired cliché in
near-record time) in Iraq would create much more
stability in the region over the long term. I also
agree with many pundits who argue that removing
Hussein from power and helping the Iraqi people to
form a democratic government would go far toward
influencing the formation of democracies in
neighboring countries (especially in Iran, where
millions of young people hungry for freedom need
only a match to light the blaze of progressive
reforms).
On the other hand, the Bush administration grows
more isolated every day in its bid to secure world
support for an invasion of Iraq. If events continue
as they have gone over the past few weeks, the U.S.
will truly go it alone in an attack against Iraq.
Such a prospect scares the hell out of me. Not only
would such unilateral action throw heaps of fuel on
the fire of anti-Americanism around the world
(which already burns brightly), it would
also—in my opinion—increase the
likelihood of terrorism against our country and its
people, rather than decrease it.
Furthermore, as inspections within Iraq
continue, allegations of weapons of mass
destruction grow increasingly circumstantial.
Though rumors persist of Iraqi ships, laden with
chemical and biological weapons, sailing covertly
through the Indian Ocean, no hard evidence has yet
been found. The pro-war side claims that it is up
to Saddam Hussein to prove he has destroyed his
WMDs, not up to us to prove he still has them. This
is a strong argument, but I believe war requires
more than the proof of a negative. An attack
against Iraq would be a "preemptive" action. As
such, it absolutely requires some measure of
bilateral support from the United Nations, even if
the latter grows more irrelevant every day.
Had Iraq directly attacked us or another
country, an invasion would be a given, whether or
not the U.N. supported it. Look at how quickly and
effectively we moved against Afghanistan, once we
determined that the Taliban supported al Qaeda, the
perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks, and how little
global opposition we faced. We had been wounded,
and we were fighting back. With Iraq, however, we
have not yet been touched. What we contemplate is a
premeditated invasion of a sovereign state. Without
clear-cut, undeniable justification, we will
rightly wear the badge of imperialists. Think about
it: if a burglar enters your home in the middle of
the night, gun drawn, and you react by shooting him
to death, no one would question your actions. If
you track down the person who gave that
criminal—or who plans to give to another
criminal—a gun and a key to your front door,
you'd better make a damn good case for your actions
before killing him too, or you'll be the bad guy
yourself.
Development note: I've
noticed that this site doesn't look like it should
in Netscape Navigator. Rather than waste time
jury-rigging it to look right in a
soon-to-be-obsolete browser, I'll just add the
cliché "This site best viewed with Internet
Explorer."
©2003 Michael
Strickland ALL RIGHTS
RESERVED
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Daily Chuckle:
Sometimes I think war is God's way
of teaching us geography. (Paul
Rodriguez)
What is "The Daily Strick"?
I have long called
myself a writer, but too often I don't do
what a writer must do daily: write. So
you, dear reader, are the beneficiary of
my resolution to make a positive change in
at least one area of my life. Every single
day of this new year, I will write
something, anything, and post it here. It
is my intention to use this daily exercise
to jump-start my too-long-dormant creative
energies, and perhaps generate some
worthwhile material this year. Hopefully
you will find at least an occasional
amusement or insight in my daily
musings.
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