|
OPINION
| UPDATED JAN. 22
On the Brink of War
Saddam Hussein’s defiance
of the United Nations makes war inevitable
 |
| The Shorthorn: David DeGrand |
|
January 17, 2003. The day Iraq proved it
has not complied with the United Nations. U.N. weapons inspectors
found 11 empty, but new, chemical warheads not listed in Iraq’s
declaration of its weapons. Is this compliance? Will Saddam ever
comply? No, he will not. This is why we must go to war against Iraq.
Let’s begin with Iraq’s declaration. It is 12,000 pages
long, but contains little to no new information. Not mentioning
the stockpiles of Anthrax and VX-Nerve gas that the inspectors found
in 1998, the declaration is incomplete and useless.
Thinking that Saddam is actually going to come clean is naive and
ignorant. He hasn’t in 11 years, he is not going to do it now,
even with military troops on his doorstep.
He once had to deal with just as many, if not more, Iranian troops
invading his country in the ‘80s as we have in Kuwait today.
He has dealt with this situation before and he thinks he can do
it again.
Also, Saddam has ties to the extreme terrorist groups Hamas and
Islamic Jihad, which currently make peace in Israel impossible.
There is evidence that Saddam provides money to these groups so
they can continue their terrorist attacks. Peace in Israel will
only be possible if Saddam and his regime are removed from power.
Even if the weapons inspectors do complete the task before them,
Saddam is still in power. If he remains in power, he will simply
try to manufacture more weapons of mass destruction and the world
will have this problem again.
This reason alone should be enough to convince anyone that there
must be a regime change in Iraq. The only way that can be done is
through war.
War is necessary for many reasons.
The people of Iraq are in no place to revolt against their government.
It is well known that Saddam deals harshly with any opposition to
his rule, using nerve gas on his own people and blaming it on Iran.
Saddam has a secret military police corps, as well as his own troops,
scaring the populace into supporting him.
His propaganda machine is going full steam; all people hear is what
the government wants them to hear, living without access to any
other source of news.
Rebel groups inside and outside Iraq are too small in number to
be able to stand up to Saddam’s military.
As these groups are outnumbered by about 2 to 1 by the military,
no amount of weapons shipments will help their revolt.
War is the answer to the problem of Saddam Hussein. Going to war
is the only way we are ever going to be rid of him and the threat
of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction because the alternative
— keeping him in power — is no longer an option.
— Jessica J. Smith is a contributor to The Shorthorn and a
journalism junior.
|
|
