I still can't figure out why we are warring with Iraq. Here is what I am thinking.
1) High government officials have intelligence information they are unwilling to share, because it's to sensistive. This information would lead any rational person to war with Iraq.
2) We would like to continue George Bush I, war with Iraq and now have public sentiment whipped enough to do it, thanks to September 11.
3) We need to get Iraq's oil into the hands of a friendly dictator as the Saudi regime may not always be friendly.
4) We are concerned about UN Security Council Resolution.
5) Wagging the Dog, until the midterm elections are over. That way the corporate scandals get less coverage.
Well, option four is laughable so scratch that. One problem here is that as soon as President Bush started barking up that tree, Saddam has an out, he can let inspectors back in. The internation community will be glad to let that play itself out. We don't appear to want that. We can't say this is our motivation and then continue to rattle sabers when Saddam meats our demands.
Option one is very possible. If this is the case I think that the government would do well to cough up the sensitive evidence and let world opinion swing our way. Even something along the lines of satelite imagery like Kennedy showed during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Not trusting the American people to know the truth is a grave mistake.
Option two is simply frightening, with motivation being provided by personal vendetta, or money interest. I simply doubt this.
Option five. I like this one best, as it results in a cooling after November, and less blood shed.
Options three, sounds ok to me, but if that's the goal we should state it more directly. I don't like deceit.
The real cost of warring with Iraq has been stated in many editorials eloquently. Namely this, the Arab world is mostly under 25. For the first time their struggles are being televised across the arab world. If you think that's not significant, think about how TV coverage affected the perceptions of Vietnam in the U.S. As the arab media outlets are state controlled they are very careful to focus on external causes of suffering and not on the corrupt leaders of their own countries. As such any war with Iraq will provide this generation with another 1000 reasons to hate the west, and the U.S. specifically. In 20 years when this baby boom overthrows the entrenched dictators and kings, they will be only to glad to turn their hatred toward us. This is the real threat.
