| Warthog Territory Forums http://warthogterritory.net/forum/ |
|
| A different perspective... http://warthogterritory.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=2786 |
Page 1 of 1 |
| Author: | 30mike-mike [ 17 Mar 2003, 05:57 ] |
| Post subject: | |
> Deadlier Than War By Walter Russell Mead > Wednesday, March 12, 2003; Page A21 > Those who still oppose war in Iraq think containment is an > alternative -- a middle way between all-out war and letting Saddam Hussein > out of his box. They are wrong. > Sanctions are inevitably the cornerstone of containment, and in Iraq, > sanctions kill. > In this case, containment is not an alternative to war. Containment is > war: a slow, grinding war in which the only certainty is that hundreds of > thousands of civilians will die. The Gulf War killed somewhere between > 21,000 and 35,000 Iraqis, of whom between 1,000 and 5,000 were civilians. > Based on Iraqi government figures, UNICEF estimates that containment > kills roughly 5,000 Iraqi babies (children under 5 years of age) every > month, or 60,000 per year. Other estimates are lower, but by any reasonable > estimate containment kills about as many people every year as the Gulf > War -- and almost all the victims of containment are civilian, and > two-thirds are children under 5. > Each year of containment is a new Gulf War. > Saddam Hussein is 65; containing him for another 10 years condemns at > least another 360,000 Iraqis to death. Of these, 240,000 will be children > under 5. Those are the low-end estimates. Believe UNICEF and 10 more years > kills 600,000 Iraqi babies and altogether almost 1 million Iraqis. Ever > since U.N.-mandated sanctions took effect, Iraqi propaganda has blamed the > United States for deliberately murdering Iraqi babies to further U.S. > foreign policy goals. > Wrong. > The sanctions exist only because Saddam Hussein has refused for 12 years > to honor the terms of a cease-fire he himself signed. In any case, the > United Nations and the United States allow Iraq to sell enough oil each > month to meet the basic needs of Iraqi civilians. Hussein diverts these > resources. Hussein murders the babies. > But containment enables the slaughter. Containment kills. > The slaughter of innocents is the worst cost of containment, but it is > not the only cost of containment. Containment allows Saddam Hussein to > control the political climate of the Middle East. If it serves his interest > to provoke a crisis, he can shoot at U.S. planes. He can mobilize his troops > near Kuwait. He can support terrorists and destabilize his neighbors. The > United States must respond to these provocations. > Worse, containment forces the United States to keep large conventional > forces in Saudi Arabia and the rest of the region. That costs much more than > money. > The existence of al Qaeda, and the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, are part > of the price the United States has paid to contain Saddam Hussein. The link > is clear and direct. Since 1991 the United States has had forces in Saudi > Arabia. Those forces are there for one purpose only: to defend the kingdom > (and its neighbors) from Iraqi attack. If Saddam Hussein had either fallen > from power in 1991 or fulfilled the terms of his cease-fire agreement and > disarmed, U.S. forces would have left Saudi Arabia. > But Iraqi defiance forced the United States to stay, and one consequence > was dire and direct. Osama bin Laden founded al Qaeda because U.S. forces > stayed in Saudi Arabia. This is the link between Saddam Hussein's defiance > of international law and the events of Sept. 11; it is clear and compelling. > No Iraqi violations, no Sept. 11. > So that is our cost. And what have we bought? > We've bought the right of a dictator to suppress his own people, disturb > the peace of the region and make the world darker and more dangerous for the > American people. We've bought the continuing presence of U.S. forces in > Saudi Arabia, causing a profound religious offense to a billion Muslims > around the world, and accelerating the alarming drift of Saudi religious and > political leaders toward ever more extreme forms of anti-Americanism. > What we can't buy is protection from Hussein's development of weapons of > mass destruction. Too many companies and too many states will sell him > anything he wants, and Russia and France will continue to sabotage any > inspections and sanctions regime. Morally, politically, financially, > containing Iraq is one of the costliest failures in the history of American > foreign policy. Containment can be tweaked -- made a little less murderous, > a little less dangerous, a little less futile -- but the basic equations > don't change. Containing Hussein delivers civilians into the hands of a > murderous psychopath, destabilizes the whole Middle East and foments > anti-American terror -- with no end in sight. > This is disaster, not policy. It is time for a change. > Walter Russell Mead is senior fellow for U.S. foreign policy at the Council > on Foreign Relations and author most recently of "Special Providence: > American Foreign Policy and How It Changed the World." > © 2003 The Washington Post Company Peace through Superior Firepower |
|
| Page 1 of 1 | All times are UTC [ DST ] |
| Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group http://www.phpbb.com/ |
|