With the turn of events that have recently taken place concerning Iraq, such as the apparent suicide of a prominent British Scientist, David Kelley, faulty United States, and British intelligence, as well as the increasing numbers of lives being lost in our battle against terrorism, it now appears that
President Bush’s political machine may be heading to an abrupt halt.
Is it now time for congressional hearings? In retrospect, does a box of cigars and a blue dress seem as damning to the American way of life as it once did? The truth is, thus far, there is no evidence that Saddam Hussein or the Iraqi Government has ever attempted any acts of terrorism on United States soil. This is a fact conveniently overlooked by the
Bush
Administration.
On the same day
Bush
addressed the United Nations to make the case for war against Iraq, the White House released a document entitled, "A Decade of Deception and Defiance." This document wrongly stated that Iraq was then sheltering the Abu Nidal terrorist organization. This charge ignored the verifiable fact that the Iraqi Intelligence Service (IIS) had assassinated Abu Nidal earlier this summer.
Abu Nidal was responsible for killing 900 innocent people, including more then 100 Americans. The
Bush
administration used Abu Nidal's death as an occasion to condemn Saddam Hussein for providing him with amnesty, even though Saddam Hussein summarily executed Nidal months before. To this writer, that seems at the very least as dangerous as when Ronald Reagan's administration blamed Iran for the 1987-missile attack, which disabled the USS Stark killing numerous American sailors.
In reality, Saddam Hussein had no means to attack the United States using weapons of mass destruction. This leaves an unanswered question, why the urgency to attack Iraq? Is
President Bush
beginning to stretch our military too thin? There are conflicts raging in Liberia and Congo, unrest in the Middle East, and the continuing threat of nuclear war on the Korean peninsula as well as the wars in Bosnia and Kosovo. It appears that there will be no shortage of conflict around the globe. Will this be the fuel needed to propel
Bush
to another four-year regime in the White House?
It seems as in recent days with the assassinations of Uday and Qusay Hussein;
President Bush
has been able to create the perception of limited success in Iraq by the parading of post mortem pictures of Saddam Hussein's sons. Recently, Tom Leonard of the BBC was asked if this could help or hinder efforts to gain military control in Iraq. Leonard was also asked if the United States was violating any moral or ethical codes by releasing to the media the post mortem photographs. Leonard stated that the fundamental differences between Al Jazeera's airing of the British soldiers and the United States' airing of Uday and Qusay Hussein is, "That Uday and Qusay were inherently bad people, and whereas their grip on the Iraqi people was so tight the Iraqi people needed to see that the Hussein brothers were dead."
All of this could backfire on the
Bush
Administration. The parading of the bodies could alienate the Iraqi people by showing a lack of regard for their cultures and traditions. In the Muslim world, it is tradition to bathe, and then bury the body of the deceased as soon as possible. I believe that if
President Bush
hopes to retain control of the White House that he needs to take significant steps to restore faith in his administration.
President Bush
needs to take concrete steps to quickly restore the Iraqi Government and Civil Administrations.
President Bush
also needs to make public all twenty-eight pages of the intelligence briefing, which was used to justify the invasion of Iraq. As Americans, we can no longer sit back and simply trust our elected representatives with the security and future of our Nation."
