Thursday, February 20, 2003
I am hoping there won't be a war, and the posturing and military buildup is all a big bluff. In the past 12 years we have learned the hard way that Saddam Hussein does not respond to talk, to toothless UN resolutions, to verbal appeals or to sanctions. He could care less about this kind of pressure. What does work is the use of force or the very realistic threat of the use of force. In the last six months the USA has taken a leadership role in the effort to enforce UN resolutions against Iraq. Bush and his true allies have been very forceful in everything they have done.
Threatening war and the consequences of non-compliance is working wonders. Putting a bite behind the bark has made Saddam more cooperative than ever. Suddenly, he lets weapons inspectors back in with much more power than they had the first time. The UN asks for a declaration of his WMD programs and he hands them thousand page report. Saddam is cooperating for one reason and one reason only...to avoid being invaded and losing his power. Of course his cooperation is half assed and he is playing a cat and mouse game.
But as the days tick down and his time is running out, we will probably see him cooperating a little bit more each day. The more he cooperates the more time he buys. He knows most countries in the world will say "look he's cooperating more than before, you can't attack him now" With thousands of Allied forces massing on his doorstep, he is feeling the pressure. His oppressed people sense this and feel his weakness. It's my hope that they will revolt against him and overthrow his regime without America needing to fire a shot. If this doesn't happen then my second hope is that the VERY REAL THREAT OF WAR will make him cooperate enough that the inspections will have a chance at working and Iraq will be disarmed.
Threatening war and the consequences of non-compliance is working wonders. Putting a bite behind the bark has made Saddam more cooperative than ever. Suddenly, he lets weapons inspectors back in with much more power than they had the first time. The UN asks for a declaration of his WMD programs and he hands them thousand page report. Saddam is cooperating for one reason and one reason only...to avoid being invaded and losing his power. Of course his cooperation is half assed and he is playing a cat and mouse game.
But as the days tick down and his time is running out, we will probably see him cooperating a little bit more each day. The more he cooperates the more time he buys. He knows most countries in the world will say "look he's cooperating more than before, you can't attack him now" With thousands of Allied forces massing on his doorstep, he is feeling the pressure. His oppressed people sense this and feel his weakness. It's my hope that they will revolt against him and overthrow his regime without America needing to fire a shot. If this doesn't happen then my second hope is that the VERY REAL THREAT OF WAR will make him cooperate enough that the inspections will have a chance at working and Iraq will be disarmed.
