Josh,
In the great secular (agnostic, atheistic, whatever) tradition, I will answer your questions.
Q: Why is the USA the biggest, baddest dude on the block scared of Saddam and his patch of sand.
A: Saddam has shown in the past through his use of chemical weapons on his own people, and through an unwarrented invasion of Kuwait 12 years ago, that he has no regard for human life and no regard for International law. Simply put, he is an outlaw. In addition, he has shown continually that he seeks (or has) nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons. He has also claimed that he will certainly use these weapons against neighboring countries (Israel, Kuwait, Iran) or he will sell them to terrorist groups like Al-Queda for use against OUR NATIONAL INTERESTS at home and abroad.
Q: Wouldn't it be better to have inspectors up his ass indefinitely than kill thousands of innocents and put our men in harm's way?
A: This is where you are missing a HUGE piece of this equation. Inspections only work if there is an underlying threat of force. There has to be a strong, legitimate "or else" clause. With the French promising to veto ANY resolution that threatens force, there is no motivation for Saddam to cooperate.
Q: Since when is Anthrax considered a "weapon of mass destruction?"
A: Since a mere two pounds of it can infect thousands if properly distributed. Also, we are talking about VX gas as well, along with nuclear weaponry.
Q: Is Saddam worse than guys in N. Korea, Saudi Arabia, Rwanda, Indonesia, all places where people are dying every day at the hands of brutal regimes?
A: Certainly we cannot address ALL of these situations at once. And my personal opinion is that we should have taken care of the N. Korea situation first (a much more precarious situation). However, we have been living in false paradise that crumbled on September 11, and only since then have we begun to realize the ramifications of our inaction. We will get to those other situations in good time...at least I hope we do.
Whether or not the Bush/Chaney administration has alterior motives is really not a question...they do. But this particular situation is one in which the end justifies the means. There is a very clear "bottom line" here. Saddam is a murderer who has laughed in the face of 17 different UN Resolutions over the last 12 years. He only grows more dangerous (to our national security and our allies' national security) by the day. And now, once again he has absolutely no reason to cooperate with UN inspectors. Military conflict is the ONLY way he can be stopped.
Thanks,
Ken
kwarshaw@linwoodcom.com
