| ----... This conflict -- an undeclared war launched by an unelected president -- is wrong for many reasons. Let me briefly discuss a few. First, as I wrote to you recently, there was no reason for the United States to attack Iraq to eliminate their "weapons of mass destruction" instead of following the inspections route. If inspections took five more years, what is the rush from a security point of view. Could the Iraqis really supply a seriously weakened al-Qaeda while inspectors were showing up unannounced throughout the country? Certainly Saddam is a slithering miscreant, but he was on the defensive and the UN was making progress -- true, it was slow -- toward finding out if Iraq had NBC weapons. When they were asked to destroy missiles, they did so. Why would it be wrong to keep digging? What is wrong with patience if it avoids war? I will tell you: patience doesn't win elections. Second, there is little doubt that Saddam is a thug and that his people have suffered while he built palaces. However, war is as big a humanitarian disaster as there is. Civilians will die in this war. How can they then be saved? Recently 14 Iraqis died in an explosion at a marketplace. True, it was just as likely a misguided Iraqi shell as an American one, but those people would not have died at all if we hadn't initiated a war. If as many people are killed, wounded or starve to death in the war as before the war is anything different just because they died in the name of liberation? Thousands of Iraqi soldiers will die. People may shrug at that, but most of those soldiers are doing their job, following orders, defending their country, living up to the same code of honor as our soldiers, and/or afraid to flee for fear of being executed. Third, this war could end tomorrow, but it seems now just as likely that it could become the quagmire that we vowed never to get involved in again. The shock and awe have faded, and now coalition forces are bogged down with snipers, sandstorms, and refugees. The battle for Baghdad could be a long and bloody fight. Support for the war will certainly fall as casualties rise. The people that we were so certain would rally to our side will, in many cases, see us as heathen invaders. Fourth, what the hell happens after the coalition forces kill Saddam and take control of Baghdad? Is there any plan for a post-war Iraq? And, if so, will we lose interest as we have in Afghanistan? The US military may need to be an occupying force for years. Are we prepared for that, logistically and economically? Fifth, we have burned many bridges in the international community and we have bribed others. Between the treaties Bush has broke or ignored and this virtually unilateral war, the US has used up all of its good will. Americans believe that the US is a beacon of hope in the world, but many see us as a bull in a china shop, or worse. This war is a bad idea, and every day it looks worse. Jim |