Demosthenes believes that the only reason that the US is likely to attack Iraq
is because the American right wants to. Granted, that is a reason, but it is not the only reason. It also does not recognize the fact that Joe Lieberman and other Congressional Democrats are hawkish on Iraq, but they’re not hardly members of the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy.
Look, for all intents and purposes, we know that Iraq is working on biologial and chemical weapons, and nuclear devices as well. We’ve got more than enough evidence of this from our intelligence sources as well as Iraqi defectors who worked on such programs. We know for a fact that Iraq wants to become a nuclear power. We also know that Saddam Hussein is a brutal dictator who has systematically executed political opponents and starved hundreds of thousands of people to death. How many more must die before we’re willing to effectively deal with the problem?
The left, as recently as a few months ago, have been talking about how evil the sanctions against Iraq are, and how many people have died as a result of them. If for no other reason, the long-term effects of a regime change in Iraq benefit the Iraqi people. The sooner and more expediently Saddam Hussein is removed from power, the faster Iraq can rebuild and the faster the Iraqi people can get the kind of food and medical care they need. The left no longer talks about Iraqi sanctions, it seems that their distaste for any kind of US intervention outweighs their compassion for the Iraqi people.
However, just removing Saddam from power is entirely insufficient. His son Uday is just insane enough to launch a nuke into Tel Aviv or use a biological weapon. In fact, the possibility of his taking power is
another strong justification for the liberations of Iraq. In order to defend the Iraqi people, we have to have troops on the ground. We can’t just send in CIA assassins, we simply must ensure that the Ba’ath Party does not retake power.
The fate of the Iraqi people are perhaps the strongest justification for an attack on Iraq. We can do better than leave them in the hands of a madman. Yes, in the short term there will be civilian casualties. However, the supposed humanitarians in the UN and the EU should be taking a good hard look at the situation in Iraq and asking themselves if their lack of support for the expedient removal of Saddam Hussein is such a moral stance.
