Volume I No. 19
 09-27-02
 The Imperial President 
 and His Threatened March Into Baghdad
 author: Vance Cureton
 © Copyright 2002

 The pressure cooker is on full boil in Washington, D.C. Every politician
 that can find a microphone is giving a speech, and there are countercharges 
 and outright insults going back and forth across the aisle. Despite the 
 need for unity, there appears to be little of that in the Nation's Capitol 
 right now. And it's all because of the Imperial President and his poorly
 defined mission against the world's second most-wanted man.

 Saddam Hussein is a rat. He is an evil man. He is a thief, a murderer, and
 God only knows what else this man is. But, that alone doesn't give the
 United States the right to march into Baghdad and remove this tyrant from 
 office.

 If George Bush has the goods on Saddam, it is long past the time he 
 should have stated to the American public exactly what threat Hussein
 is to the world, and the evidence of that threat. So far he hasn't come
 close to doing that. Bush has made strong charges, but little else has
 come forth but harsh words and vitriol.

 Is this enough to send thousands of young American men and women
 into the scorching sands of the Arabian desert, to risk their young lives,
 just so this one individual can be removed from office? And what next, if
 Saddam is removed from power? What is to prevent the new Iraqi leader
 or leaders from one day morphing into evil-doers that would pose a
 greater threat than Saddam Hussein supposedly does today. No one 
 should ever forget that not very long ago, the United States supported 
 the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan in their war against the Soviets. Thus,
 the evil that is Osama bin Laden was made stronger. And today the new 
 Afghanistan is hardly assured that it will not eventually descend into 
 anarchy and chaos that might last for generations. Problems such as
 those posed by the rule of despots have a way of avoiding clear and 
 definitive resolutions.

 If Saddam has nuclear weapons or chemical weapons en masse, and it
 can be proven beyond all doubt that this man is prepared to use them
 against his neighbors or against the West, then the case is made to
 take him out. But that case cannot be based only on rhetoric or supposition.
 For the march to Baghdad might very well entail a vicious urban war,
 where scenes of bombed out hospitals, residential areas, and schools,
 will be visible on the six-o'clock news. Not only in the U.S. But elsewhere,
 worldwide. Those cruel scenes must be balanced by the knowledge
 of what this war is truly about. Iraqi women women in flaming burquas
 will enrage the Muslim masses worldwide. The reason the American
 troops are in that country must be crystal clear. Or this war could spiral 
 out of control in ways we can not today imagine.

 The World is a better place for the most part, than it has ever been. 
 And the serious threat that evil mean like Saddam Hussein pose to 
 world security is not to be understated. But how we deal with these 
 kind of devils tells us what kind of societies we are. It is a cruel reality 
 that one day, an evil rogue could cost the world a Paris, a London, a 
 Moscow, or a Beijing. Such a horrendous thought is not beyond 
 imagining. But the civilized nations of the world can't go marching in 
 removing leaders they deem are unstable, unworthy, or both. It is a 
 tough call, but we must live with it. Because, surely that day will come 
 when some leader in a country friendly to the US or to Western values 
 turns bad. If that country is already a nuclear power, or possesses
 chemical or biological weapons, what then? 

 Do we bomb them out of existence? Pandora and her jeweled-box were 
 never so dangerous. Until it's discovered that a thimble full of some-thing
 can destroy half the planet, and thus pose a threat that cannot under 
 any circumstances be ignored, humanity may just have to somehow 
 learn to live with these nightmare scenarios of evil men in possession 
 of weapons of mass destruction. Humanity endured almost fifty years 
 of a Cold War between two superpowers. This new threat can be 
 survived. 

 But we must not lose our humanity in surviving it.

 No world leader can be protected. Not the US President, the British
 Prime Minister, or the King of Siam. Technology and biomedical
 reasearch can yield weapons that will get at you. No matter where 
 you are. No matter who you are. There are just too many ingenious
 ways to kill a human being. So, there is no answer in leaders assassinating
 each other. The cure proves far worse than the cold.

 And no society will forever be safe in this world. There will always be 
 threats to what we hold dearest. But, lets not be so arrogant as to think 
 that the West will forever remain the strongest social and political force 
 on the planet. Therefore it is time to establish the rule of international 
 law. And to use that law to pressure the Saddams of the world. It is
 time to strengthen and invigorate the United Nations, not diminish it 
 with rhetoric and poorly chosen words. Military might must remain the 
 means of last resort. Not a means of convenience.

 Human societies have long memories. Enemies made don't just fade
 away into nothingness. Let us not become as Rome was. For just as 
 that civilization fell. The moment may come when we are fate's hostages
 staring in horror at the barbarians outside the gate.
 

 ReadingPost.Com
 © Copyright 2002

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