The road to war in Iraq
[Letters to the Editor, International Herald Tribune]
iht.com
Friday, January 17, 2003
Regarding "Feeling isn't argument" (Views, Jan. 9) by William Pfaff: The Bush administration appears determined to pursue military action against Iraq that neither the American people nor America's allies fully support. However, U.S. officials are blinded by their "moral clarity" to domestic and international calls for more discussion on the issue.
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William Pfaff aptly points out that President George W. Bush has not effectively built a case for hostile use of America's mighty army. The president utilizes instead a tactic that has garnered success for earlier political ventures: Repeat the same thing over and over to wear down opposition.
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The citizens of America and of the world deserve a reasoned debate before sanctioning armed conflict. A functioning democratic system requires debate - even if the White House dodges it and the Congress shrinks from leading it.
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Bush's demand that we support his war or be counted among "those who hate innocent life" is another use of his bully pulpit to avoid dialogue. That tactic may work on kowtowing Republicans and weak-kneed Democrats, but not on "those who love freedom."
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Zachary Tedoldi, Trento, Italy
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It seems certain that President George W. Bush, on whatever pretext, is going to launch a blitzkrieg on Iraq - but do the American people, who are decent folk, really understand what a small, poor, distant country Iraq is?
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The population of Iraq is about 22 million, about 8 percent of that of the United States. The gross national product of Iraq is less than 0.6 percent of the United States'.
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There is no evidence that Iraq has any weapons of mass destruction or the means to deliver them, and Iraq has never done any harm to the United States. Statements by Bush that he fears an Iraqi attack on the United States would be merely ludicrous were he not about to rain death and destruction on a miserable and virtually defenseless people.
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The huge military might being paraded by Bush, and his apparent eagerness to use it, must be causing many other nations to wonder how they could defend themselves if he turns against them next.
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M.A. Messenger, Ruislip, England
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Hans Blix, the chief UN weapons inspector, is now suggesting that more time is needed to determine whether Iraq has weapons of mass destruction. That is surprising, given that the dossiers published by the British and U.S. governments maintained that certain named sites were being used for production or development of such weapons.
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Presumably the inspectors have visited those sites and found no evidence. If that is the case, it seriously calls into question the intelligence that made Britain and the United States so certain that the weapons existed at those sites. If that intelligence was incorrect, how much should we trust other intelligence as a reason for going to war?
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David Cockburn, Shepperton, England
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Regarding "What game is Bush playing in Korea?" (Views, Jan. 4) by Paul Krugman: As an American citizen, I am tired of hearing President George W. Bush boast about following his "gut feelings" or "visceral reactions," as reported by Paul Krugman.
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It would be nice to have a president who at least claimed to be guided by reactions drawn from another part of his anatomy - his head.
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Mary Fradier, St-Mandé, France |
