codejunkie posted an interesting ‘call to arms’ to protest the coming ‘war’ with Iraq (go here to read it.)
War is never good… sometimes it is necessary to defend what we believe is right from the ‘tyranny of evil men,’ but war is never good. If Iraq, once again, defies the United Nations, a body it is a member of, should the UN then approve the use of military power to enforce it’s rulings?
No doubt Saddam Hussein is an ‘evil man,’ he had ruled Iraq for twenty years using violence and fear. He had gassed citizens of his own country simply because they are a different ethnicity or religion. He had started wars, ignored the UN, threatened other countries and just plain been a bad boy—we can all agree on that. But should we, again, go to ‘war’ against Iraq?
Back when the ‘war’ with the Taliban was imminent I said that though I did not agree with Bush, I would support the ‘war’ if that was the will of the nation. As an American I would exercise my first amendment right and voice my dissension. That was for a different situation. The Al Qieda and Taliban posed a clear and present danger to the United States and it’s citizens. The situation with Iraq is different.
I do agree that Saddam needs to be reformed and beat into submission to the UN resolutions. The whole idea of ‘preventiative war’ scares me more than anything else. At what point dose the difference between ‘preventiative’ and ‘aggressive’ break down?maybe
If the leaders of the US have proof that Iraq is not complying with the various resolutions of the UN and is in fact producing Chemical, Biological or Nuclear weapons then, before any action is taken, they should use this proof to guide the inspectors to these illicit programs and show the world that Iraq is indeed lying. With out this evidence I cannot support a second war or continued sanctions against Iraq—so we don’t like Saddam, that does not give us the right to go into another sovereign country and remove it’s leader; I don’t like paying taxes but that does not give me the right not to pay them.
On a side note: While the world if focused on Iraq, North Korea is playing nuclear brinkmanship—not a good thing. The UN should request that the Russian Army take out all the nuclear facilities that the regulatory agencies have been kicked out of; they need to send the world a real message, one that says “don’t fuck with us…”