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Administration must explain self
By Ashwin Raman
Published:
Monday, February 3, 2003
Ashwin Raman -- Guest Column
It has been nearly a week since President Bush's State of the Union address, and war with Iraq seems just weeks away.
But let's be honest here. The Bush administration has been obsessed with Iraq for nearly a whole year. Nothing has changed. For months now, Bush has said that he possesses information that Saddam Hussein is indeed harboring weapons of mass destruction. However, he is still reluctant to share that information with the UN inspectors, let alone the world.
A recent CNN/Time poll revealed that only 46 percent of the country has been convinced by Bush for the need to go to war with Iraq.
Some say that as students, we have very little say in this matter.
But students have just as much a right in this matter as anyone else. After all, we pay taxes too. We're the ones funding these wars. We're also the ones who have family and friends serving in the military.
What I find absurd in this matter is that this war is billed as part of the war against terrorism. If that is indeed so, why is America fighting Saddam Hussein when it was Osama bin Laden who sent 19 guys to fly planes into buildings? Have we really forgotten who the real threat is? More than a year has passed since the war on terrorism began and we're not any closer to bin Laden then we were in the months before Sept. 11.
In his defense, Bush says that he has evidence linking al-Qaida and the Iraqi government. But if that's so, why isn't he revealing it to the public or sharing the information with his allies?
At last week's State of the Union address, Bush indicated that this war might be fought without UN backing.
Not many people around the world received that message very well. Everyone from Nelson Mandela to German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder called America's foreign policy stance arrogant. Leaders in Europe feel that Bush is creating a double standard by using diplomacy to deal with North Korea but not with Iraq. And not many leaders around the world are convinced that Hussein poses any greater danger today than he did in his 12 years in power since the end of the Gulf War.
Everyone agrees that Saddam Hussein is a ruthless dictator and the world would be a better place without him. But there are more immediate dangers out there, in particular Osama bin Laden. The U.S. involvement with someone else may just give him the opportunity he needs to resurface and strike America.
War with Iraq also has the potential to breed a new generation of hatred towards America, which could, in turn, give birth to more bin Ladens. If indeed there is a real threat from Iraq, we should have the right to know it.
