Garth RattrayTHE ENTIRE world is holding its collective breath and wondering when CNN will bring the War on Iraq (Operation Desert Swarm) live and in living colour into our living rooms. The situation reminds me of an Andy Capp cartoon of many years ago. It depicted a police constable taking a statement from an obviously inebriated Andy. Lying unconscious on the ground was a man whom Andy had knocked out cold. Andy said, "I thought he was going to hit me so I hit him first". This is known as 'doing unto others before they do unto you'.
President Bush is bent on leading a coalition to do an 'Andy Capp' on President Hussein. But he will not be using his fists, he will be using the most powerful, most sophisticated weapons of war ever known to mankind and he has not ruled out the use of nuclear weapons. He will not just be knocking out one individual; collateral damage will claim the lives of untold thousands of innocent children, women and men. The 'constabulary' (UN Security Council) will not be able to contain the US and the International Criminal Court is incapable of holding any American accountable for any action during war because the US operates outside of this body.
Saddam Hussein has proven himself to be a danger to world peace and a destabilising force within the Middle East. America has good reason to distrust/fear him; she was his ally when he fought Iran, so US, more than anyone else, knows of his weapons of mass destruction and ruthlessness. Some believe that President Bush has a personal vendetta against President Hussein, after all he did say that he hates Saddam and he also said, "he tried to kill my dad". Some feel that America is trying to control the Iraqi oil fields but this is speculative.
On November 8, 2002, all 15 members of the UN Security
Council unanimously adopted resolution 1441 giving Baghdad "a final opportunity to comply with its disarmament obligations". Resolution 1441 further states that "Iraq remains in material breach of council resolutions relating to Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait". It also stipulates that Baghdad provide "a complete and accurate declaration of all aspects of its chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programmes and ballistic missiles systems, as well as information on other chemical, biological, and nuclear programs that are supposed to be for civilian purposes, within 30 days." But Iraq is being extremely evasive and is probably hiding its most destructive weapons. The US believes that the recent finding of undeclared chemical warheads (Al Samoud 2 missiles) proves this.
Iraq claims that she is trying to comply with Resolution 1441 but she submitted a report that contained 12,200 pages of lies, deception, rehashed reports and plagiarism. Knowing what's at stake, the United Nations Security Council is willing to give Iraq more time. But the US feels that this will go on indefinitely while Saddam pursues his clandestine support of terrorism and continues to stockpile biological and possibly nuclear weapons.
America can easily annihilate President Hussein and his supporters but this will be a Pyrrhic victory. The US may not lose many soldiers but she will certainly lose the respect of the United Nations, the trust of the entire world and what few allies that she has left within the Arab community. She will also lose all hopes of peace for years to come and the world will always wonder about the true motives for this war.
The US is busy garnering support for a second UN resolution approving the use of force to disarm Iraq despite worldwide anti-war protests. Governments that agree with military action against Iraq do so at great political peril. The way I see it, Saddam has already been effectively neutralised because even if he has weapons of mass destruction he wouldn't dare attempt to deploy them while under the intense scrutiny of weapon inspectors, spy satellites and planes. Going to war therefore seems superfluous.
The USA should not undermine the sovereignty of the United Nations. Countries that discern threats should not take matters into their own hands. With great power comes great responsibility and the USA has a responsibility to keep the peace. This world belongs to us too, in the end we may all suffer the consequences of this war for generations to come. I can't help but wonder if the next few weeks will bring gasps of horror or sighs of relief.
Dr Garth A. Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice.
