Thoughts about the War with Iraq
By Ralph Spence - March 2003
It is important that we seek to understand each other and share the underlying issues that have helped form our opinions and I offer the following for consideration. In the war of terrorism, it is easy to see that the United States is responding to the attacks of 9/11 and most of the world is united in the effort to end terrorism. Most also agree that Saddam Hussein is a threat to world peace and must disarm, but there is disagreement over how to make this happen. Because the conflict with Iraq began before the events of 9/11, many fail to see the connection between disarming Hussein and the war on Terrorism. We know that Hussein started a war with Iran shortly after coming into power and then, in an effort to take oil reserves and dominate the area, he attacked and occupied Kuwait. Most agree that he is a cruel dictator who has ignored the needs of his people and invested national resources in personal comforts and in building military power. He has attacked his neighbors, used chemical weapons on his own people, had political opponents put to death, created an environmental disaster by igniting oil wells in Kuwait, still holds prisoners from the war with Kuwait, given al-Qaida terrorists safe haven, attempted to assassinate a US President, supported the efforts of Palestinian terrorists and violated human rights in many ways. He is a threat to his region, his control over a large amount of the world's oil makes him a threat to the world economy and he is a threat to the innocent citizens of the United States. In seeking to enforce UN resolutions that call on Hussein to destroy all weapons of mass destruction, the United States is not the aggressor. While several nations have these weapons, the Iraqi dictator agreed to disarm after being driven out of Kuwait and has proceeded to ignore 17 United Nations resolutions seeking to enforce that agreement over the past 12 years. Sanctions have had little effect and efforts to get food and aid to Iraqi citizens have been diverted to military use. The role of weapons inspectors is to witness and document the disarming of Hussein, however, they have been forced to play detective instead, and it is impossible to win at hide and seek in a country the size of Iraq. This was proven in 1995 when information received after the defection of Hussein's son-in-law, led to the discovery of large quantities of chemical and biological weapons. The inspectors had been working for several years without detecting these weapons until this inside information was received. Hussein made sure this would not happen again by promising amnesty if the son-in-law returned to Iraq, and when he did, he was quickly put to death.Many in the Arab World see the action of the United States as motivated by a desire to take over oil reserves or a desire to control the government of Iraq. Their fear is understandable since many have been taught in their schools and religious institutions to hate the United States and other countries of the West. They have been encouraged to blame the West for their problems and taught to view our individual freedom as evil, to see women as second class citizens and to believe our culture is morally corrupt. It is obvious why they are suspicious about our motives. They should be comforted by our return of the oil fields of Kuwait, our liberation of Afghanistan and support of an independent government, our efforts in Kosovo and other actions where the United States has committed resources to supporting democracy. There have been mistakes made in the past, however, actions the United States has taken in pursuit of world peace deserve to be defended against those who wish to foster suspicion or undermine our efforts for political gain. We do not teach our children to hate anyone, we are generous as a nation and as individuals, and I believe our primary motivation is to share the freedom we love and reach out to help those in need. The presence of the United States military and the commitment of our allies is putting pressure on Hussein to comply with United Nations resolutions. The threat of war is making him go along with inspections, however, his cooperation is limited and many known weapons systems have not been accounted for at this time. Some have said that we should give inspections a longer time to work, yet those nations have not offered to join, or financially support, the military presence that is necessary to make that strategy a success. Hussein knows that he can weaken the resolve of the United States, as well as our economy, if he is able to nurse the inspection process along while keeping our military forces deployed throughout the region. Even though there is a large coalition of nations that support military action, Hussein is using the opposition of a few nations to convince the people of Iraq that the United States is the aggressor and he is the victim. Some of these opposing nations have been the ones who have enabled him to continue efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction and build up his military while ignoring the needs of his people. This support for Hussein is strengthened by war protesters who were mostly silent during other recent military actions, but who now seem to be blind to the threat Hussein poses to his own people and to the world. As we see with North Korea, the lack of world consensus and failure to take meaningful action is encouraging other nations to defy United Nations efforts to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction.Yes, Hussein is a terrorist threat. He has threatened and used terrorism against his own people, who are now held hostage by their fear of Hussein as well as the fear of the United States and the West that has been instilled in them for many years. After 9/11 many were saying, "why didn't our government do anything to stop the terrorist attack before it happened" - "why weren't we warned?" Now when the country is trying to take action, efforts to protect our country are complicated by concerns about racial profiling, personal privacy issues, disagreements about immigration policy and, in the case of Iraq, a desire to give a known enemy and terrorist another chance. We need to get serious about national security and it is time for all nations to get serious and unite together in responding to the threat that terrorism is to the whole world. Most have had to fight to obtain or preserve freedom in the past and we must be willing to continue opposing those who would take our freedom away. All of us are afraid of what the cost of taking action might be, that is what terrorism is all about, but the cost of failing to act is clear. If we give in to terrorism or show any indication that it can be a successful way to control opposition or influence political change, then innocent people shall be targets all over the world.