[2003-03-17]

On How Unilateral War Against Iraq Can Still Be Avoided

This evening, President George W. Bush spoke to the American public in a televised address. His point: "Saddam Hussein and his sons must leave Iraq within 48 hours. Their refusal to do so will result in military conflict, commenced at a time of our choosing."

President Bush also said: "Should Saddam Hussein choose confrontation, the American people can know that every measure has been taken to avoid war, and every measure will be taken to win it."

But it is not Saddam Hussein who has chosen this confrontation. It is President Bush and his administration who have chosen it. They chose it clearly when they announced that "regime change" in Iraq was their goal. They chose it clearly when they sent hundreds of thousands of American troops to the Persian Gulf region. They chose it clearly when they began discussions about "post-Saddam Iraq", when they began handing out contracts to American corporations to "rebuild" Iraq after a war.

Every measure has not been taken to prevent Bush's war in Iraq. If every measure had been taken, President Bush would have issued no such silly ultimatum---how can anyone possibly expect Saddam Hussein to "leave Iraq" when there are upwards of 250,000 mostly American troops positioned outside Iraq? What country's leader, no matter how despotic, would let their country be invaded in such a fashion?

There are further ways to avoid the United States going to war against Iraq without the rest of the world:

• Keep pressure on Iraq. Bush said: "Today, no nation can possibly claim that Iraq has disarmed." How can this nation possibly claim that Iraq has not begun to disarm? Iraq has done more to disarm, and to prove its disarmament, in the last two months than in the last twelve years. Why does Bush believe it's a good idea to interrupt this process with all-out war? Does he have ADHD? Or is he merely impatient?
• Address the Israeli/Palestinian problem. Announcing that there will be a "road map" for peace in Israel and the Palestinian territories is the only fleeting attention the Bush administration has paid to the fact that around 800 Israelis and between 1800 and 2000 Palestinians have been killed since September of 2000. Put pressure on Ariel Sharon and his government to stop illegal Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories, to pull Israeli military forces out of Gaza and the West Bank, and to conform to the many United Nations Resolutions regarding Israel and the Palestinian Territories.
• Deal seriously with North Korea. Since President Bush began talking about Iraq, he and his administration have spoken almost entirely in the realm of possibilities, about what Saddam Hussein or what terrorists might be able do. North Korea, on the other hand, actually has nuclear weapons, and has threatened to use them. Isn't that a much more imminent threat?

Promoting peace in Israel and the Palestinian Territories, dealing seriously with actual threats, and letting the UN inspectors do their job while pressure on Iraq compels Saddam to allow the same would build all sorts of credibility for President Bush and the United States---the sort of credibility that helps build unified world support instead of sowing international division and squandering decades of goodwill toward America.

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