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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: jcky who wrote (46440)	9/23/2002 7:39:07 PM
From: Rascal	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

Israelis refuse Conscription Jerusalem More than 200 young Israelis called up for the national service said in a petition released Tuesday that they would refuse to serve in an "army of occupation". "We refuse to be soldiers in an army of occupation," the 213 young Jewish conscientious objectors said in the petition, a copy of which was received by AFP here. The petition, signed by "secondary school students" was addressed to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Israeli Defence Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer and education Minister Limor Livnat, a spokesman for the petitioners said. The 213 petitioners accuse Israel of "committing war crimes and violating human rights" in the Palestinian territories, and back any form of refusal to do military service. "Among us there are some who refuse to wear the uniform, others refuse to serve beyond the Green Line (separating Israel from the West Bank and Gaza Strip) and others will find different ways of refusing to serve the occupation," said the text. - Sapa-AFP news24.com

To: jcky who wrote (46440)	9/23/2002 7:49:22 PM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

A MATTER OF PRIORITY We must target terrorists first By Waldo Proffitt Editorial The Sarasota Herald-Tribune Sep 22, 2002 Iraq last week told the United Nations it will admit international weapons inspectors "without conditions." The United States immediately denounced the offer as meaningless, said Iraq would not keep its promise, and President Rush renewed his call for a regime change in Baghdad. This was not helpful to our side in the great game now being played out on the world stage. Changing the regime in Iraq, which is a clumsy way of saying "deposing Saddam Hussein," is not our most important goal. Rather, the supreme purpose of our diplomatic and military policy is to protect the United States, to secure its citizens and its territory against all enemies, foreign and domestic. And, not just for 2002-03 or even through 2008, but for decades, if not centuries. For Americans now living and their children and grandchildren. It may be that careful consideration will lead us to the conclusion that getting rid of Saddam Hussein is essential to the implementation of that high policy. But it is definitely not helpful to keep the Regime Change flag flying at the top of the pole. It is not a banner to which many nations will repair. When and if we go to war against Iraq, we do not want to do it alone. Could we win that war by ourselves? Sure. Would we lose friends and at the end of the day find ourselves standing almost alone against the rest of the world? Yes. Our strength is the strength of the just. We are powerful not because we are feared but because we are respected. To keep our position in the world, we must lead by example, not by fear. I suggest, and I hope I am right, that Americans do not have the stomach to do the things necessary to maintain our superpower status by fear. We should act in ways clearly moral, clearly lawful, clearly considerate of the rights of all nations. We should not declare that might makes right. It is clearly in our own self-interest to be sure that if and when we take up arms against a sovereign nation, there is no room for reasonable doubt it is a nation which threatens great harm to other nations. So our response to Iraq's offer to admit international inspectors to look for weapons of mass destruction should be to press for immediate acceptance of the offer and dispatch inspections teams to the border. Maybe, indeed likely, the offer is a ploy, designed to gain time and manipulate opinion. We should make sure the United Nations does not get bogged down in details. It should insist that, inasmuch as the offer said "no conditions," we are at the border ready to inspect and, if we can't inspect in any way we want, right now, we will go on to draft new resolutions and to allow member nations to enforce them. My opinion of Saddam Hussein is that he is a vicious doer of evil and the world would be better off without him. But, there are a handful of other men controlling other nations who would fit that description. How do we justify zeroing in on Hussein without proof positive that he is uniquely a mortal danger to other nations? Do we not serve our long-term interest by doing all we can to establish a norm that international disputes should be settled by means other than force? Do we not want to set an example for aggrieved nations, and especially the younger generations in aggrieved nations? An example that their best interest will be served by peace rather than war. And, if our friends do not ask, surely others will: "Is Hussein a greater threat than the network of terrorists who have already killed 3,000 Americans and are pledged to kill more?" My personal view is that terrorism is the greater threat. To borrow a thought from Tom Friedman, Hussein is homicidal not suicidal. He loves life more than he hates us. Whereas the terrorists hate us more than they love their own lives. That's why we have suicide bombers who encase themselves in sticks of dynamite or in the cockpits of jetliners headed for doom. We have not yet caught Osama bin Laden or more than a smattering of his followers and he is recruiting converts faster than we capture them. Terrorists are not nations. They are free-floating cancer cells. Iraq is an identifiable entity. Hussein is an identifiable leader. If he attacks Americans in their homeland, Russians, Chinese, or any of his neighbors, he will be made to pay heavily, with his life if not his nation, and few will be they who will think he deserves mercy. Hussein knows that. Leaders in most of the nations of the world know that. They will take it into account in judging the need for preventive war. It is a factor Americans ignore at our peril. _______________________________________________________ Waldo Proffitt is the former editor of the Herald-Tribune. heraldtribune.com