President Bush announced this week that the U.S. military has been authorized to make pre-emptive strikes against nations or groups believed to be harboring weapons of mass destruction. Mr. Bush said while U.S. forces cannot assassinate a foreign head of state, soldiers may kill a head of state if they are acting in self-defense.
We here at WebActive know concerned citizens have questions about this policy and we want to help answer them.
Q: What countries are harboring weapons of mass destruction?
A: England, Russia, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and, of course, the United States are all known to have nuclear weapons.
Q: So which country will we attack?
A: Iraq. U.S. intelligence agencies believe Saddam Hussein is stockpiling chemical, biological and nuclear arms.
Q: Are these the same intelligence agencies that missed all those clues about September 11th?
A: Yes they are.
Q: What if our intelligence agencies are wrong about the weapons of mass destruction?
A: We won’t know for sure until after our pre-emptive strike. If we’re wrong, the Army will deny everything. Seymour Hersh will uncover the truth five years later, publish a story in the New Yorker and all will be forgotten.
Q: In the course of this pre-emptive strike, will American troops be allowed to kill Saddam?
A: Only in self-defense.
Q: How can it be considered self-defense if our troops are raiding his headquarters?
A: We’re the good guys, he’s the bad guy. There are no shades of gray.
Q: If we kill Saddam, who will take over in Iraq?
A: The Iraqi, anti-Saddam groups. The U.S. has been encouraging them to be more vocal in their opposition to the Hussein government.
Q: Are these the same opposition groups we encouraged during the Gulf War?
A: Not exactly. Most of those people were killed by Saddam after the first Bush administration ran out on them. This is a new Bush generation asking a new generation of anti-Saddam groups to stick out their necks for us.
Q: Why is President Bush so focused on Iraq, when the Israel-Palestine situation seems so grim?
A: The situation in Israel is extremely frustrating to President Bush. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has de facto veto power over U.S. policy and Mr. Sharon is not interested in negotiating with the Palestinians. On the other hand, the Egyptians and Saudis were in Washington last week, promising all hell will break loose if the U.S. doesn’t start showing some evenhandedness. Reacting to that, the Bush administration started murmuring about an interim Palestinian state. The idea was immediately vetoed by Mr. Sharon and also condemned by the Palestinian Authority. At least Mr. Bush got them to agree on something. Meanwhile, a suicide bomber killed 19 commuters on a bus in Jerusalem Tuesday, Israel is reoccupying Palestinian territory and is building something like the Berlin wall around the West Bank.
The Bush administration doesn’t have the first idea what to do about the Middle East – not that anyone does – but rather than search for solutions, Mr. Bush hopes to distract the public by rattling his saber at Iraq, just as he hoped to distract the public from the incompetence of the CIA and the FBI by announcing the creation of the Department of Homeland Security.
Q: Doesn’t the creation of these bogus departments and policies just erode people’s confidence in the U.S. government?
Q and A
President Bush announced this week that the U.S. military has been authorized to make pre-emptive strikes against nations or groups believed to be harboring weapons of mass destruction. Mr. Bush said while U.S. forces cannot assassinate a foreign head of state, soldiers may kill a head of state if they are acting in self-defense.
We here at WebActive know concerned citizens have questions about this policy and we want to help answer them.
Q: What countries are harboring weapons of mass destruction?
A: England, Russia, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and, of course, the United States are all known to have nuclear weapons.
Q: So which country will we attack?
A: Iraq. U.S. intelligence agencies believe Saddam Hussein is stockpiling chemical, biological and nuclear arms.
Q: Are these the same intelligence agencies that missed all those clues about September 11th?
A: Yes they are.
Q: What if our intelligence agencies are wrong about the weapons of mass destruction?
A: We won’t know for sure until after our pre-emptive strike. If we’re wrong, the Army will deny everything. Seymour Hersh will uncover the truth five years later, publish a story in the New Yorker and all will be forgotten.
Q: In the course of this pre-emptive strike, will American troops be allowed to kill Saddam?
A: Only in self-defense.
Q: How can it be considered self-defense if our troops are raiding his headquarters?
A: We’re the good guys, he’s the bad guy. There are no shades of gray.
Q: If we kill Saddam, who will take over in Iraq?
A: The Iraqi, anti-Saddam groups. The U.S. has been encouraging them to be more vocal in their opposition to the Hussein government.
Q: Are these the same opposition groups we encouraged during the Gulf War?
A: Not exactly. Most of those people were killed by Saddam after the first Bush administration ran out on them. This is a new Bush generation asking a new generation of anti-Saddam groups to stick out their necks for us.
Q: Why is President Bush so focused on Iraq, when the Israel-Palestine situation seems so grim?
A: The situation in Israel is extremely frustrating to President Bush. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has de facto veto power over U.S. policy and Mr. Sharon is not interested in negotiating with the Palestinians. On the other hand, the Egyptians and Saudis were in Washington last week, promising all hell will break loose if the U.S. doesn’t start showing some evenhandedness. Reacting to that, the Bush administration started murmuring about an interim Palestinian state. The idea was immediately vetoed by Mr. Sharon and also condemned by the Palestinian Authority. At least Mr. Bush got them to agree on something. Meanwhile, a suicide bomber killed 19 commuters on a bus in Jerusalem Tuesday, Israel is reoccupying Palestinian territory and is building something like the Berlin wall around the West Bank.
The Bush administration doesn’t have the first idea what to do about the Middle East – not that anyone does – but rather than search for solutions, Mr. Bush hopes to distract the public by rattling his saber at Iraq, just as he hoped to distract the public from the incompetence of the CIA and the FBI by announcing the creation of the Department of Homeland Security.
Q: Doesn’t the creation of these bogus departments and policies just erode people’s confidence in the U.S. government?
A: Sure, but it takes the spotlight off Enron.
© Mark Floegel, 2002