JF, The thing is, the "solution" of economic and political isolation was working.
Working as long as there was vigilence behind the "solution."
In the years after Saddam kicked out the inspectors in 1998, France, Germany, and Russia were pushing for the lifting of sanctions. The "world" was getting too weary and guilt-striken to continue the economic and political isolation. You can bet greed was also behind that push. (So much for Bush being the only one guilty of "It's all about oil.") Meanwhile, everyone knew the sanctions had holes, and that Saddam was funneling the "oil-for-food" money toward anything but food and medicine.
The fact is that before 9/11, no one considered the sanctions to be successful, and no one had the guts to force inspectors back into Iraq. Everyone's opinions shifted after 9/11, but the truth remains: Saddam would never voluntarily disarm. All he'd have to do is wait until the world got weary of inspections again, just like before.
If it was so easy, why hasn't he done it in the 10 years since the Iraq war number 1?
Would you have preferred to wait until he actually did it? Or got close? Or even held nearby states as virtual hostages, like North Korea is doing?
By the way, in your six-step program, all Saddam really needed to do was steps one and two. The other four can be taken care of by some terrorist group he does business with.
Tenchusatsu |
