"...no steps for the total elimination of America by force should be avoided," said the assembled scholars and holy men. "America is an enemy of the Islamic world and should be annihilated."
said Baghdad's resident-in-chief Imam (head of the Mosque), in the Jemaiyah al-Iraq.
The Bush administration officials have made plans for a major air war and ground invasion of Iraq that could come as early as this fall but more likely will occur in early 2003. Most of the US forces are currently in the process of moving to the Al-Udeid Air Force Base in Qatar. The advocates of attacking Iraq say that the military overthrow of Saddam Hussein is part of the campaign against terrorism and is needed to prevent Iraq's development of weapons of mass destruction.
There are, of course, viable alternatives to war. The most effective means of addressing the threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction is to resume U.N.
Saddam Hussein detained several Westerners, with v...
English: Former President of Iraq, Saddam Hussein,...
April Glaspie shakes hands with Saddam Husseinweapons inspections. Previous U.N. disarmament efforts were successful in eliminating Iraq's nuclear weapons program and destroying most of its long- range ballistic missiles and chemical weapons. Because of these efforts, according to a 1999 U.N. report, "the bulk of Iraq's proscribed weapons program has been eliminated."
To assure the return of inspectors and the completion of the U.N. disarmament mandate, the United States must drop the goal of armed regime change. Washington must also abide by the terms of Security Council resolutions, which promise the lifting of sanctions in exchange for Iraqi compliance with weapons dismantlement. The disarmament of Iraq must then lead to a Middle East "zone free from weapons of mass destruction," as specified in the original Gulf war cease-fire resolution.
War against Iraq would be monumental folly, for many various and sundry reasons. Firstly, there has been no justification for war at...