It is time that we put the
Iraqi question in some perspective. There has been a lot of hand wringing
and sweating recently since President Bush has decided to force Saddam to
comply with the ‘demands’ of the international community. Saddam was
encouraged in the 80’s by the United States and was given logistic support
for his war with Iran. Iran was the archenemy of the United States
following the debacle of Shah of Iran and the hostage crisis (thanks to
Jimmy Carter, who assured the end of Shah’s regime, only to usher in the
heinous Ayatollah Khomeini). The Shiite Iranians and the Sunni Iraqis were
at it for eight years in a war where Saddam gained experience in using his
chemical weapons. Silence on the part of United States only encouraged
Saddam until his blunder in Kuwait, claiming that piece of land and
its oil fields always belonged to Iraq. His next step would have been to
attack Saudi Arabia and rule over a large oil empire (he thought with the
blessings of the United States) and control the Middle Eastern sheikhdoms
like puppets. But he had miscalculated the concern of United States as
well as the neighbors of Iraq in his eagerness to expand Iraqi territory.
And the rest is history with the success of Operation Desert Storm.
The mother of all wars, promised by Saddam fizzled out and his famed
Republican guards were hunted like desert rats as they were scurrying
around trying to find a hole to hide in. Saddam’s life was spared as per
the advice of his Arab neighbors who feared Iran might emerge as a
dominant force in the region and become a stronger bully. Mistake on the
part of United States? Perhaps. However, at the time in the chess game
that appeared to be the right move. Saddam, as a condition of his
surrender agreed to unfettered inspection by the United Nations and
promised to destroy his stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction.
Over the next seven years the regime in Baghdad was busy duping and
obstructing the inspectors in doing their job. They had some initial
success but Saddam found a way to delay and distract the inspections and
eventually, in 1998, was able to make them vacate his country. President
Clinton made some noise at that time and sent a few missiles as a token of
threat. Operation Desert Fox, as it was called was a joke. The Congress
and the United Nations passed new regulations and sanctions against Iraq.
And then, inexplicably international community stuck its head in the sand
wishing the problem would simply go away. Saddam also won the diplomatic
war and after showing suffering Iraqi population on television screens
(which he blamed on the sanctions imposed rather than his brutal regime
depriving the people of basic needs of food and medicine) and the
international community agreed to allow him to sell some of his oil on the
open market provided the money earned went directly for the welfare of the
people of Iraq. Of course, it was impossible to verify this by anyone.
Meanwhile, France and Russia started doing business as usual with Saddam,
all the while passing tough resolutions and sanctions in the Security
Council in the United Nations, of which they both are veto-bearing
members! They and many other countries bought his oil in the black market.
The unfinished business of disarming Saddam as terms of the surrender
after the Gulf War was totally forgotten. Meanwhile, Saddam earned 2
billion dollars a year for his private coffers and program of weapons of mass
destruction went unhindered. Chemical and Biological weapons were neither
destroyed nor depleted. His insatiable appetite for acquiring nuclear
weapons became apparent.
And then September 11 happened. The threat of spread of terrorism
originating from the Middle East opened the eyes of the international
community. Talks about increasing threat of biological and chemical
weapons used by the terrorists hit the airwaves daily. Then the tin army
of Afghanistan fell. The search of the al-Qaida headquarters in that
country revealed preliminary plans for nuclear weapons and evidence of
animal experiments with chemical weapons. The world was aghast (for a
while anyway). The threat of mass destruction of innocent people just
because they do not agree with the terrorist’s way of life or their
thinking, served as a wake up call for civilization.
There are three sources for the menace of weapons in the region. Iran,
Pakistan and Iraq. These three countries with their fanatical thinking
will not hesitate to put the weapons of mass destruction in the hands of
willing suicidal terrorists. Pakistan, at least for the time being is
controlled with the American involvement and the fight against al-Qaida.
Iran is to be deterred and hopefully the people of Iran will bring about a
regime change with internal revolt. That leaves Iraq.
The hope of regime change within Iraq by its people has been given ample
time and there is little hope of this happening. Saddam has successfully
decimated the opposition with his brutality. Now he is close to obtaining
nuclear power according to all intelligence reports. His biological and
chemical weapons are ready to be deployed on missiles. His contacts with
terrorists in the last decade are established facts. If the world does not
wake up now to this threat, especially after September 11, when else would
they?
If Bush does not force Saddam to comply and come clean now with the help
of the international community, that day will dawn on us when disaster
will strike us again. Perhaps it is inevitable but it is our duty to see
if attacking the source of known evil can avert it. Complacency on the
part of world community as well as the United Sates in the last decade,
perhaps, is what got us to this point. There were warning signs and
terrorist attacks, which were largely ignored. The first World Trade
Center bombing, the embassy bombing in Africa and the attack of USS Cole
were responded in a meek manner by America Some charade of token bombing
of tents in Afghanistan looking for the perpetrator, Bin Laden or bombing
of aspirin factory in Africa were our answers. These acts are no different
than the United Nations passing feel-good resolutions with not follow-up
action if not abided by Saddam. These timid acts only have emboldened the
terrorists and Saddam. The perpetrators of the Trade Center bombing were
caught and put through public trials where real strategy for destroying
the WTC was openly discussed. There is speculation that the subsequent
attack and destruction of WTC was as a result of what was learnt in these
open trials. This does make a compelling case for secret trials of
terrorists as proposed by the administration now.
Now we have new acts of terrorism committed in other parts of the world.
The island of Bali was the latest venue. Anyone who does not belong to the
radical, fanatical Muslim group is a victim. Are we going to fight this
menace or bury our heads in the sand wishing this threat would go away?
The terrorist, I assure you, will not rest until his goal of wiping out
civilization is met. We can fight back now or wait till half the
population is wiped out before doing so. The threat will not go away by
peace negotiations and appeasement. Only by striking at the heart of their
source of money and weapons will make this world a safer place to live.
Iraq could serve as an example to warn other rogue countries that
encouraging terrorism can be detrimental to their security as well. It
will serve notice to these regimes that harboring terrorist is as much a
crime as committing acts of terrorism.
No one said this war is going to be easy or short. We all can choose not
to see the evil or hear the evil. But capitulation in this early stage
will result in this evil winning over the entire civilization. The
Armageddon could be at hand sooner than we hoped for.
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No Evil, Hear No Evil…