A rchive Date
[ 19-03-2003 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Canada ]
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[http://www.canoe.ca/Columnists/clancy.html
Edge of abyss
By ROY CLANCY - Calgary Sun
March 19, 2003
I wanted to write this column about anything else but the looming war in Iraq.
I have been desperately searching for evidence that would enable me to offer unreserved support for the military quest of U.S. President George Bush and British PM Tony Blair.
Most of us, I suspect, want to find reasons to support our greatest friends and neighbours during these troubled times.
Instead, lamentably, many of us find ourselves plagued with uncertainties - able to do little but watch helplessly as the military machine grinds into gear.
We're not alone.
Even as Bush was giving Saddam 48 hours to get out of town, about half the U.S. population remained unconvinced enough that they oppose war in Iraq without UN approval.
Though the U.S. administration has pulled out all the stops, they've failed miserably in attempts to persuade the world community that Iraq poses a clear and immediate danger to Americans on U.S. soil.
Nor did they succeed in drawing clear links between Saddam Hussein's Iraq and the al-Qaida terrorist network responsible for the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Most of the world community does not dispute that Saddam is an evil snake whose maniacal ambitions pose a threat to long-term peace and stability. They also agree he must be defanged.
Where the U.S. and the rest part company is on the best way to accomplish this.
Granted, responsibility for the impending war does not rest solely on the shoulders of the U.S. The UN flopped miserably in its role as global arbiter. Its true relevance collapsed like a tent in a desert windstorm after members of the security council failed to deliver an alternative solution that would convince the U.S. the threat posed by Saddam could be eradicated by any means other than a direct military assault.
The resulting impasse has brought the world to the edge of an uncertain and dangerous abyss.
An allied assault on Iraq is unlikely to be the "fierce battle" flagged in newspaper headlines, given the seriously mismatched strengths of the opponents.
It will be more like a turkey shoot, yet will still claim the lives of an untold number of allied soldiers and Iraqi citizens, depending on its twists and turns
When it is over, then what?
Once the U.S. has established the principle of preemptive war, how can it prevent other nations, such as Russia, China, or India, from employing it in their own interests?
Or will pre-emptive force become the sole purview of the U.S.?
Then there is the not insignificant issue of the realignment of traditional alliances and its impact on international affairs.
It is telling that much of the globe has resisted the economic and political pressure exerted by the U.S. despite potentially devastating consequences.
Once the Bush regime squashes Iraq, where does it turn next? The war on terrorism, unlike traditional battles, is akin to chasing shadows.
American military might is undoubtedly capable of smashing one country after another. Meanwhile, as we have learned to our horror in the last couple of years, the terrorists fester and grow in dark corners of the Earth, awaiting their next opportunity to wreak havoc.
Conventional force is all but useless against this unconventional enemy.
Military campaigns are no more likely to eradicate this threat than duct tape and plastic are to protect your life in the event of an attack unleashing weapons of mass destruction.
The influence and authority of the U.S. - a country that has done more to foster freedom and democracy than any other - remains of paramount importance to world peace.
In lashing out wildly - some would say blindly - to avenge the grievous wounds inflicted on Sept. 11, 2001, the U.S. runs the risk of alienating loyal segments of the global community and in the process, undermining its own authority.
As we wait for hell to rain on Iraq, the only certainty about the impending conflict is that little is certain.
Of course, if all goes according to Bush's strategy, crowds will turn out to cheer the entry of allied troops into Baghdad.
With Saddam gone, Iraq's bitter factions will stop killing each other and embrace democracy.
Terrorist fanatics around the globe, cowed by U.S. military might, will abandon their plots to destroy civilization.
If that's the case, I will be forced to eat the newsprint upon which these words are printed.
Compared to the alternative, that's not such an unappetizing prospect.
Letters to the editor should be sent to callet@sunpub.com. Clancy can be reached at 250-4235
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
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