PEACE!

I am placing today's editorial of the Philippine Daily Inquirer because I totally agree with them regarding the war on Iraq. Friends, let us pray for peace for the sake of the innocent civilians in Iraq and for the sake of the world.

Madness
Posted:9:44 PM (Manila Time) | Mar. 20, 2003
By Editorial

AS HE had vowed two days earlier, US President George W. Bush unleashed Thursday the mighty American war machine against Iraq. Less than two hours after the expiration of the deadline Bush had set for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and his sons to leave Iraq, cruise missiles and precision-guided bombs were falling in and around Baghdad.

Bush said the opening salvo of the new war was aimed at "targets of military opportunity." The whole war effort, dubbed "Operation Iraqi Freedom," was intended to "disarm Iraq and free its people," he said. "This will not be a campaign of half-measures and we will accept no outcome but victory."

Victory was also what Saddam promised his people after at least 40 missiles rained on Baghdad. Condemning the attack as a "shameful crime against Iraq and humanity," he urged the Iraqi people to "draw your swords" against the "evil invaders." He predicted that their enemies faced "a bitter defeat" and that Iraq will emerge victorious.

Between the bully and the bullied, it is difficult to see who still retains a measure of sanity. Saddam's defiant stand suggests a willful disregard of the hard lessons of the 1991 Gulf War that saw his elite Republican Guards quickly raising the white flag in the face of an onslaught by US and allied forces. But given surrender or death as his only choices, what else could Saddam have done but put up a bold front and rally his people behind what could prove to be a suicidal course?

But if desperation drove Saddam to madness, the assertion of power was what did it for Bush. From the moment Bush set his eyes on Iraq as the next target of his campaign against international terrorism, it was clear that nothing would deter him from his single-minded pursuit of war. Over the last few months he has cited one reason after another for fighting Iraq. One day it was Iraq's alleged support for al-Qaeda, the international terrorist network that launched the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon; the next day it was to prevent weapons of mass destruction from falling into the hands of terrorists. One day it was protecting the world against terrorism; the next day it was protecting the Iraqi people against Saddam's cruel regime.

When Iraq allowed United Nations arms inspectors to look at suspected facilities for the storage or manufacture of weapons of mass destruction, Bush made it quite clear that any findings that did not support his own suspicions would be unacceptable to him. He was fishing for an excuse-any excuse-to send his troops to Baghdad, and finding none, he sought to coerce the UN to give him one. Thwarted in his effort to get the international community to confer legitimacy on the war he wanted to wage, he accused the UN of not living up to its responsibility.

Bush apparently thinks that the world revolves around America, that if he believes he is right the whole world should simply nod in agreement, that if he wants war he can go to war and the rest of the world be damned. He has sought to give an international color to his war of aggression by claiming it is being fought by a "coalition of the willing," but only the United Kingdom and Australia have sent troops to fight alongside the Americans. A total of 35 nations have come out to express their support for his decision, but that only serves to underscore the fact that more than 150 others don't approve of his tragic misadventure.

Saddam might have been less than cooperative with the UN. He might have "used diplomacy to gain time and advantage (and) defied Security Council resolutions," as Bush has charged. But the majority of nations obviously do not consider them as enough provocation to wage war. And now that Bush has chosen to employ force to impose his will on Iraq without the consent of the UN, what makes him think he is less of an outlaw than Saddam?

Since Sept. 11, 2001, Bush has been spoiling for a war. Now he has got his war, and the rest of world can only pray that it will be mercifully quick, for the sake of the Iraqis as well as many others who will be affected by its economic fallout. But then a swift victory might not slake Bush's thirst for blood. Who will be his next target for superpower bullying? Who can stop this man?