War

"The Arrogant Empire" -- Fareed Zakaria in Newsweek, 3/24/03 (as available 3/18/03):

Watching the tumult around the world, it's evident that what is happening goes well beyond this particular crisis. Many people, both abroad and in America, fear that we are at some kind of turning point, where well-established mainstays of the global order -- the Western Alliance, European unity, the United Nations -- seem to be cracking under stress. These strains go well beyond the matter of Iraq, which is not vital enough to wreak such damage. In fact, the debate is not about Saddam anymore. It is about America and its role in the new world. To understand the present crisis, we must first grasp how the rest of the world now perceives American power. . . .

The administration claims that many countries support the United States but do so quietly. That signals an even deeper problem. Countries are furtive in their support for the administration not because they fear Saddam Hussein but because they fear their own people. To support America today in much of the world is politically dangerous. Over the past year the United States became a campaign issue in elections in Germany, South Korea and Pakistan. Being anti-American was a vote-getter in all three places. . . .

Center-right parties [in Europe] might still support Washington, but many do so almost out of inertia and without much popular support for their stand. During the recent German election, Gerhard Schroder campaigned openly against America's Iraq policy. Less noted was that his conservative opponent, Edmund Stoiber, did so as well, at one point (briefly) outflanking Schroder by saying he would not even allow American bases in Germany to participate in the war. . . .

A war with Iraq, even if successful, might solve the Iraq problem. It doesn't solve the America problem. What worries people around the world above all else is living in a world shaped and dominated by one country -- the United States. And they have come to be deeply suspicious and fearful of us.

European and Russian leaders' reactions to the US war ultimatum (BBC, 3/18/03)

Bush war speech (Washington Post, 3/17/03).

"Who forged the Iraq nuke docs?" Two Jack Shafer columns in Slate ( 3/14/03 and 3/17/03 ) collect what's known.

Retired US Army Special Forces Master Sergeant Stan Goff on the use of chemical weapons in Halabja in 1988, at the end of the Iran-Iraq war (From the Wilderness Publications, 3/17/03):

Stephen Pelletiere was the Central Intelligence Agency's senior political analyst on Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war. He was also a professor at the Army War College from 1988 to 2000. In both roles, he had access to classified material from Washington related to the Persian Gulf. In 1991, he headed an Army investigation into Iraqi military capability. That classified report went into great detail on Halabja.

Halabja is the Kurdish town where hundreds of people were apparently poisoned in a chemical weapons attack in March 1988. Few Americans even knew that much. They only have the article of religious faith, "Saddam gassed his own people."

In fact, according to Pelletiere -- an ex-CIA analyst, and hardly a raging leftist like yours truly -- the gassing occurred in the midst of a battle between Iraqi and Iranian armed forces.

Pelletiere further notes that a "need to know" document that circulated around the US Defense Intelligence Agency indicated that US intelligence doesn't believe it was Iraqi chemical munitions that killed and aimed the Kurdish residents of Halabja. It was Iranian. The condition of the bodies indicated cyanide-based poisoning. The Iraqis were using mustard gas in that battle. The Iranians used cyanide.

3/16/03: The Washington Post and Washington Times on yesterday's antiwar protests in Washington, DC.

The Post put participation at 40,000 (police estimate) to 100,000 (organizers' estimate) with about 75 (police estimate) to 300 (organizers' estimate) counterprotesters. The Times's numbers: "Tens of thousands" (their lede) to 100,000 (organizers' estimate), and "about 50 counterprotesters." From the Post article: "Saad A. Kadhim, of the Iraqi American Anti-War Association, led a busload of 49 Iraqi Americans from New York City. Kadhim returned from Baghdad a few days ago and said people there were panicked and the mood tense. "It's not about Saddam Hussein anymore," he said. 'The Iraqi people see America as a threat.'" The Times article briefly mentions parallel antiwar protests in Athens, Bangkok, Bucharest, Cairo, Hong Kong, Madrid, Frankfurt, Moscow, and Tokyo; Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, and South Korea; "and scores of other cities in Europe, Asia and the Middle East." The Post did not mention protests outside Washington.

Eric Black in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, 3/16/03, on neoconservative diplomatic ascendance in the Bush administration and resulting prospects of "perpetual war:"

In their vision, war with Iraq is followed by democratization of Iraq, then democratization -- by military means or otherwise -- of other Arab states, then a rolling of the momentum into Asia, with special emphasis on North Korea and China, [Carleton College Asia specialist Roy] Grow said.

[Foreign policy analyst John C.] Hulsman of the Heritage Foundation likened the group to a "drunken gambler, who keeps doubling down, betting his entire bankroll on every roll of the dice. The trouble is, they have to win every bet or they are wiped out."