- Paul Begala, the Democratic Party's chief wit, came up
with a good line the other day. Commenting on the fact that Iraq had gassed
its own people more than a decade ago, invaded Kuwait 12 years ago and
attempted to kill George Bush's daddy nine years ago, he said, "President
Bush must watch the History Channel and think he's watching Headline News."
-
- There is truth in his wit. The state of Iraq has done
nothing in the past nine years that would in any way justify the United
States in making war against it. The president's sudden interest in enforcing
United Nations resolutions is hypocritical. There are many countries that
ignore U.N. resolutions, most especially Israel, just as there are many
countries that have weapons of mass destruction, including Israel. Furthermore,
it was not Iraq that "kicked out" the U.N. inspectors in 1998.
They were withdrawn so the United States and Great Britain could bomb Baghdad.
Since that inspection team was riddled with spies and had made it clear
that no matter what Iraq did, the sanctions would not be lifted, it is
no surprise that Iraq refused to re-admit them.
-
- Furthermore, the fact that Saddam Hussein is a dictator
should be of no concern to us. We have neither the moral nor legal right
to go around the world deciding who should and should not rule other countries.
I hope no American is so naive as to imagine that the leaders of China
are democratic choices; in that case, we have literally crawled into bed
with a government that has a record of having murdered more than 60 million
people. Still, if the world is to live in reasonable peace, it is absolutely
essential that the sovereignty of other nations and their people be respected.
-
- The one aspect of terrorism that the president has consistently
ignored is the question of why anyone would wish to attack the United States
in the first place. People do not do things, especially important things,
for no reason at all. Any sensible and honest person, confronted with terrorism,
must ask: What is the motivation for these attacks?
-
- The president's juvenile claim that we are attacked because
others are jealous of our freedom is, on its face, nonsense. He knows well
why we were attacked ó because of our policy in the Middle East.
The whole world knows that the U.S. government has allowed itself to become
the puppet of Israel and that the Israeli government has politically gone
mad. When the leading choice for leaders is either Benjamin Netanyahu or
Ariel Sharon, there is not a ghost of a chance for peace with the Palestinians.
Both men foolishly believe that they can annihilate the Palestinians with
brute force. This policy, and our unquestioning support for it, is what
fuels hatred for the United States in the Arab world. Like it or not, that's
the truth.
-
- Furthermore, it is Israel that fears Iraq and more importantly
Iran. The U.S. attack on Iraq is just the first stage in attacking Iran
and probably Syria. The American people have no idea what their government
is about to lead them into, and since most of the corporate press in America
is the lapdog of the government, they probably won't find out until it's
too late.
-
- America was once admired and respected by most people
in the world because we minded our own business and believed that the best
way to spread liberty was by example. Now, we have become an imperial power
that arrogantly assumes the right to tell the rest of the world's people
what they must and must not do. That's hubris. We don't have that much
power. We are going to find that out the hard way unless we can find some
American leaders who would rather revive our republic than attempt to resurrect
the Roman Empire.
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- © 2002 by King Features Syndicate, Inc. http://reese.king-online.com/Reese_20021127/index.php
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