Last week on NBC’s “Meet The Press,” Secretary of State Colin Powell said, “No sensible person wants to go to war if war can be avoided.”
And thusly explains why President George W. Bush is leading the war cry against Iraq.
But what is Bush’s motivation?
Is it a lust for oil?
Is it blind loyalty to Israel?
Is it revenge for the war his daddy couldn’t finish?
Is it because Saddam Hussein is an easier target than Osama bin Laden? (At least we know where Hussein is.)
Or is it to divert our attention from problems at home?
Whatever the reason, Bush is hell-bent on pulling the switch on Saddam Hussein.
The day after Powell made that remark, Hussein said he welcomed the return of United Nations weapons inspectors to prove that Iraq has no chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.
Bush quickly dismissed Hussein’s olive branch as a predictable and deceptive “ploy” to split the U.N. Security Council on military action.
If anything is dividing the Security Council, it’s Bush and his tough-Texan routine.
First, he moseyed into the Council session and questioned the credibility of the global peacemaker.
In fact, he down right called the U.N. leaders a bunch of wimps if they didn’t attack Iraq. He also warned that if the U.N. didn’t topple Hussein, the United States would.
Then, after the U.N. accepted Hussein’s offer, Bush unilaterally sideswiped the U.N. and asked Congress for the authority to “use all means” to disarm and overthrow Hussein if he does not abandon all weapons of mass destruction.
Bush’s call for Hussein’s ouster under a “regime change” is a globe-friendly way of saying, ‘kill Hussein,” without making our enemies jumpy or our allies nervous.
But boy, do we have plenty of reasons to be nervous.
Our economy is in the tank, unemployment is persistent and Osama bin Laden, or at least his terror cells, are out there plotting and planning.
As election time approaches, what is Bush’s solution to these problems? To start Gulf War II – with or without U.N. approval?
Bush’s subjective move wouldn’t be so unnerving if he would keep his story straight.
His supposed aim was unfettered weapons inspections in Iraq.
Now that Iraq has agreed, Bush and company say that weapons inspections aren’t enough; Hussein must disarm or else.
But doesn’t disarmament start with inspections?
From 1991 to 1998, U.N. inspectors discovered and dismantled Hussein’s ability to use and share weapons of mass destruction.
By not allowing weapons inspectors to do their job this time, Bush leaves Hussein with no other choice than to hoard any weapons he has and wait for U.S. Special Forces.
Hussein could have weapons of mass destruction or he could not.
The problem is, no one knows.
But according to Bush, the threat of Hussein’s arsenal is so strong that he must be removed from power.
Bush has not offered any evidence, other than post-Sept. 11 paranoia, that Iraq is rebuilding biological, chemical or nuclear weapons, or that Iraq is any more of a threat than the other dozen countries thought to have such weapons, including China, Cuba, Iran, Libya and Russia.
Yet Bush and his propaganda machine keeps spewing that we must get Hussein before he gets us; that Hussein is a “terrorist” and an “immediate threat” to world peace.
Maybe Hussein is Satan incarnated, even though the United States armed him with the very weapons that Bush now sees as justification for his forced removal.
Bush’s deadliest weapon is American fear.
He is bargaining that our Sept.11-trauma will allow him to convict Hussein for having weapons he may or may not have and for using weapons he may or may not use.
Perhaps Bush is a fan of Steven Spielberg’s “Minority Report,” the action movie where police are able to use psychic technology to arrest and convict murderers before they commit their crimes.
But this isn’t science fiction; this is our president on a path to war.
U.N. chief weapons inspector, Hans Blix, said he hopes to get the first inspectors in Iraq by Oct. 15.
But if Bush has his way, U.S. troops will get there first.
Congress has promised to vote on Bush’s resolution before it recesses Oct. 4, and a quick approval is expected.
When we think of Bush’s stealthy presidential victory, his empty domestic policy, his assault on civil liberties and his wayward war on terrorism, maybe it is America that needs a regime change.
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