March 14, 2003

Is There an Alternative to War With Iraq?

The drumbeat of war is getting louder by the day. The arguments both in favor and against the war have by this time become rather familiar and repetitive. Lost in the cacophony of shrill voices coming from the White House is the idea of disarming Saddam Hussein without waging a war.


That Saddam Hussein is a brutal dictator is given. The list of human rights abuses in Iraq is documented beyond the shadow of the slightest doubt. Amnesty International, a respected and credible organization has documented gross human rights violations; arbitrary arrests and detentions, torture, judicial and extra-judicial executions, disappearances and forced expulsions based on ethnicity. These cannot be justified or tolerated under any circumstance.


But neither can be a war that is supposed to liberate Iraq and rid the country of the weapons of mass destruction that to this date have not been found. The reasons for waging a war are hollow and the presented evidence flimsy. If we were to go after every dictator and despot, and we must realize that a wide swath of this world is ruled by dictators and despots and somehow we have found their oppressor rule to be acceptable. Does not China, North Korea, Cuba and many countries in Africa qualify for the dubious distinction? If we lower the threshold then we would be fighting wars on every continent. Recent face off with North Korea is a good example. Instead in the past we have chosen, for good measure, to engage these countries in a dialogue that has been fruitful and rewarding.


President Bush considers Iraq an evil (as in the axis of evil that also includes Iran and North Korea) and appears to have convinced himself that military action against Iraq is based on sound moral ground. Though his spiritual gurus, Pat Robertson, Franklin Graham and the likes, motivated by their xenophobic religious philosophy might agree with him but a majority of religious leaders including the Catholic Church are against any such action. The recent meeting of Iraqi deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz, a practicing Catholic, with Pope John Paul underscores the Church’s opposition. The unprecedented joint declaration of the archbishops of Anglican and Catholic churches in England against the war is further proof that there is no moral basis for Mr. Bush’s war against Iraq. George Bush and his neo-conservatives may consider it their Christian destiny to attack Iraq but no one is buying that line including millions of people who took to the streets all across the world to protest against the war. Call it a preemptive peace strike for it is the first time that such a massive global protest has been made even before the first shots were fired. The real reason for war is not what kind of person Saddam Hussein is but the vast oil reserves that he controls.


The divide in Europe is interesting. Russia, Germany and France do not want war and the people in those countries agree with their leaders. In Italy, Spain and Great Britain the leaders have already saddled up to join Mr. Bush but an overwhelming majority of their citizens are against the war and implicitly against their leaders. British Prime Minister Tony Blair is facing a revolt within his own party because of his unflinching support of President Bush. When the question of war was put before the parliament last week110 members of his own party, that is more than one fourth of Labor seats in the parliament, voted against the resolution. Mr. Blair has been called Mr. Bush’s lap dog and an ambassador of the US to Great Britain. This unkind characterization underscores the wars are expensive enterprises. It is estimated that a short and decisive war would cost the US at least 100 billion dollars. A protracted one would cost up to 2 trillion dollars. Add to that the cost of occupation and reconstruction and the bill may run into trillions of dollars. With the economy still in doldrums how can the US afford this kind of expenditure? Mr. Allan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank, said this in so many words while testifying before the Congress.


Are there any alternatives to war? Just about everyone except the leaders of Britain, Spain and Italy and a corralled group of Eastern European leaders (the new Europe of Mr. Donald Rumsfeld) believe there is. Let the UN inspectors continue their mandate for as long as it takes to disarm the country of weapons of mass destruction or to ensure there are none. Keep the pressure on Saddam Hussein to fulfill his commitments to the world community. In the meantime let us make concerted efforts to get rid of him through whatever means we have. CIA could dust off some of its old tricks it had used in the past to knock off Salvador Allende of Chile, Patrick Lumumba of Congo and Ziaul Haq of Pakistan, to name a few.

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