Do You Believe That War Is The "last Option" In His Showdown With Iraq

By Author: allan
Total Articles: 366
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I want to say this upfront: I don't believe George W. Bush when he says that war is the "last option" in his showdown with Iraq. I'm not at all convinced that the president's goal is to disarm Saddam Hussein, as much as it is to dislodge him from power. I think the changing emphasis of the war on terrorism — from a campaign to bring Osama bin Laden to justice "dead or alive" to a threatened war with Iraq — has more to do with settling an old score than with making the world a safer place.

I could be wrong. But so far, Bush has spent a lot of time talking tough to Saddam and not enough time making the case for war with Iraq to the American people. That's terribly shortsighted. For months now, pollsters have been telling us that a majority of Americans back a war with Iraq. But this support is shallow. In most of these polls, backing for a war dwindles under the condition that the U.S. launches an attack without our allies' support or the approval of the United Nations, or U.S. forces suffer a lot of casualties. To build a broader base, Bush needs to make a stronger case for military action — and ...
... he needs to do it now.

To begin with, Bush must explain what threat Saddam's regime poses to the United States. I'm not talking about a restatement of the "axis of evil" line from last year's State of the Union address. Bush used that catchy phrase to lump together Iraq, Iran and North Korea as threats to world peace. But all he did to back it up was say: "By seeking weapons of mass destruction, these regimes pose a grave and growing danger. ... They could attack our allies or attempt to blackmail the United States."

If this is really the case, Bush should tell us why he is now treating each of these countries so differently. It's time for Bush to explain in detail why Saddam's regime poses a greater threat to our national security than the other members of his axis of evil. A lot of people in this country mistakenly believe it has been proved that Iraq played a role in the deadly terrorists attack that bin Laden launched against this country. Half of the people questioned in a Knight Rider poll in early January said "one or more" of the 9/11 terrorists were Iraqi citizens. And nearly a quarter of the respondents said the Bush administration has produced evidence that proves Iraq had a role in planning and funding those attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

None of this is true, but in the absence of a clearly stated reason from the president for war with Iraq, a surprisingly large number of Americans are woefully misinformed about the causes of this looming fight. This must change. The idea that a democratic government derives its power from the consent of the people it governs is rooted in the belief that this grant of authority comes from an informed people.