Answering The Cruise MIssile Left On Iraq
by Edward Herman; ZNet Sustainer Program; December 09, 2002
source: http://www.zmag.org/content/print_article.cfm?itemID=2720§ionID=15
It is pretty depressing to see how frequently liberals and some leftists have been unable to maintain a principled opposition to the U.S. policies toward Iraq, which, following more than a decade of "sanctions of mass destruction" are now rushing us toward a war of outright aggression.
There is significant opposition, manifested in the growing and numerous protest marches and teach-ins, where people of quite varied political beliefs have expressed opposition to the prospective war. But this widespread and deepening dissent has had only a modest impact on the mass media, which are still serving mainly as conduits and press agents of the war party, and the liberals and "leftists" who make it there commonly accept premises of the war party and serve its interests, which is of course why they make it into the media.
Many of the liberals and leftists who have joined the war party, or criticize it only on tactical grounds, have been overwhelmed by the flood of administration and administration-supportive propaganda, and find it difficult to escape that barrage. Some, however, are what Eric Alterman approvingly calls the "patriotic left," who are not leftists but liberals who cannot bear to see their country accused of criminal behavior and insist on "balance," "pragmatism" (i.e., accepting the premises of state policy), and support for moderate and reasonable interventionism.
Without stopping here to analyse the work of the patriotic left (see my "The Cruise Missile Left," Z Magazine, November 2002), let me review first some of the paralyzing elements of the PR barrage, then note briefly points downplayed or omitted by the patriotic left and other apologists for war.
PARALYZING ELEMENTS:
1. Saddam Hussein is evil, hence his removal is justifiable
It is certainly true that Saddam Hussein is a brutal dictator, but that is not a reasonable justification for his removal by a foreign invasion. Such an invasion is strictly prohibited by the UN Charter, except where the targeted government threatens an attack, which, unlike the United States, Iraq has not done.
An attack on Iraq would therefore entail a breakdown of international law and constitute a return to the law of the jungle. Furthermore, an invasion will be extremely costly to the Iraq population, which has already suffered genocide-level sanctions by the UN, covering for U.S. and British policy. This point is reinforced by the fact that the United States regularly uses methods of warfare that produce high civilian casualties in the target country in order to minimize U.S. casualties.
Removal of a bad government is primarily a task for the victim population; any help from the outside should fall far short of holding the population hostage to regime change (the ongoing sanctions policy) or external intervention by force.
It should also be noted that Saddam Hussein's qualities as a leader can hardly be the real reason for the proposed war, given that the United States and Britain supported him energetically in the 1980s when he was fighting Iran; and they have supported other dictators in his class of brutality (e.g., Suharto, Trujillo, Mobutu, Pinochet, the Argentinian generals, 1976-1983).
Given the U.S. and British record, their purposes (see "the hidden agenda," below), and the chaos and hatred that an invasion would engender-- following 12 years of genocidal sanctions--there is no reason whatsoever to believe that they would want, or that their intervention would result in, an end of dictatorship.
2. Saddam's acquisition of "weapons of mass destruction" (WMD) would threaten U.S. and world security
This is untenable nonsense, first, because the United States is well able to defend itself and has overwhelming retaliatory capability, and even Israel would threaten a level of retaliation that precludes Saddam's using those weapons offensively against it even if he had them.
What is more, he has no delivery systems that would allow him to reach U.S. targets. He has used WMD in the past, but only when the United States supplied him with and protected his use of such weapons (against Iran, a U.S. enemy), the United States even going so far as to prevent condemnation of Saddam's methods in the Security Council (for details see the Labour Party "counter- dossier," Sept. 21, 2002: http://www.traprockpeace.org).
Saddam did not use WMD during the Persian Gulf War, because he knew that if he did so U.S. retaliation would be severe. CIA head George Tenet testified before a Senate Committee in early October that the probability of Saddam's using WMD in "the foreseeable future" was "low," except as a desperation move if attacked. In short, even if Saddam Hussein did possess WMD, he could only use them as a means of self-defense, unless he directed them against a U.S.-approved target, as in the 1980s.
3. Saddam's obstructive behavior toward Security Council resolutions and the inspections regime is intolerable
This charge assumes that the inspections regime has moral standing and has not been an instrument of a U.S. program and vendetta. In fact, although the inspections system was put up nominally to assure the elimination of Iraq's WMD, throughout the Clinton years it was repeatedly made clear that the inspections-sanctions system would stay in place until Saddam Hussein was removed.
This eliminated any incentive for Saddam to cooperate with inspections, and it also showed that the inspections system was a cover for a quasi-hidden U.S. agenda. It has also been acknowledged by U.S. and high UNSCOM officials that the United States used UNSCOM to spy on Iraq in preparation for military attack, which helped targeting in the December 1998 "Desert Fox" bombing campaign carried out by the United States and Britain. That bombing campaign, the numerous further bombings, and the "no-fly zones" were never authorized by Security Council rulings or decisions, or the 1991 truce accord with Iraq, and are therefore illegal, unilateral acts of aggression.
The inspections regime is also discredited by the fact that its sole proponents, the United States and Britain, have regularly refused to allow the enforcement of Security Council resolutions when this suited their political interest. Resolution 687, which imposed sanctions and inspections, also called for the creation of a WMD-free zone in the Middle East. This has not been implemented, as it would require the United States to admit to, and force the elimination of, Israel's large stock of WMDs.
In the case of Iraq, the United States and Britain have also used Iraq's alleged 687 failings to continue the "sanctions of mass destruction," which have resulted in more than a million civilian deaths.
by Edward Herman; ZNet Sustainer Program; December 09, 2002
source: http://www.zmag.org/content/print_article.cfm?itemID=2720§ionID=15
It is pretty depressing to see how frequently liberals and some leftists have been unable to maintain a principled opposition to the U.S. policies toward Iraq, which, following more than a decade of "sanctions of mass destruction" are now rushing us toward a war of outright aggression.
There is significant opposition, manifested in the growing and numerous protest marches and teach-ins, where people of quite varied political beliefs have expressed opposition to the prospective war. But this widespread and deepening dissent has had only a modest impact on the mass media, which are still serving mainly as conduits and press agents of the war party, and the liberals and "leftists" who make it there commonly accept premises of the war party and serve its interests, which is of course why they make it into the media.
Many of the liberals and leftists who have joined the war party, or criticize it only on tactical grounds, have been overwhelmed by the flood of administration and administration-supportive propaganda, and find it difficult to escape that barrage. Some, however, are what Eric Alterman approvingly calls the "patriotic left," who are not leftists but liberals who cannot bear to see their country accused of criminal behavior and insist on "balance," "pragmatism" (i.e., accepting the premises of state policy), and support for moderate and reasonable interventionism.
Without stopping here to analyse the work of the patriotic left (see my "The Cruise Missile Left," Z Magazine, November 2002), let me review first some of the paralyzing elements of the PR barrage, then note briefly points downplayed or omitted by the patriotic left and other apologists for war.
PARALYZING ELEMENTS:
1. Saddam Hussein is evil, hence his removal is justifiable
It is certainly true that Saddam Hussein is a brutal dictator, but that is not a reasonable justification for his removal by a foreign invasion. Such an invasion is strictly prohibited by the UN Charter, except where the targeted government threatens an attack, which, unlike the United States, Iraq has not done.
An attack on Iraq would therefore entail a breakdown of international law and constitute a return to the law of the jungle. Furthermore, an invasion will be extremely costly to the Iraq population, which has already suffered genocide-level sanctions by the UN, covering for U.S. and British policy. This point is reinforced by the fact that the United States regularly uses methods of warfare that produce high civilian casualties in the target country in order to minimize U.S. casualties.
Removal of a bad government is primarily a task for the victim population; any help from the outside should fall far short of holding the population hostage to regime change (the ongoing sanctions policy) or external intervention by force.
It should also be noted that Saddam Hussein's qualities as a leader can hardly be the real reason for the proposed war, given that the United States and Britain supported him energetically in the 1980s when he was fighting Iran; and they have supported other dictators in his class of brutality (e.g., Suharto, Trujillo, Mobutu, Pinochet, the Argentinian generals, 1976-1983).
Given the U.S. and British record, their purposes (see "the hidden agenda," below), and the chaos and hatred that an invasion would engender-- following 12 years of genocidal sanctions--there is no reason whatsoever to believe that they would want, or that their intervention would result in, an end of dictatorship.
2. Saddam's acquisition of "weapons of mass destruction" (WMD) would threaten U.S. and world security
This is untenable nonsense, first, because the United States is well able to defend itself and has overwhelming retaliatory capability, and even Israel would threaten a level of retaliation that precludes Saddam's using those weapons offensively against it even if he had them.
What is more, he has no delivery systems that would allow him to reach U.S. targets. He has used WMD in the past, but only when the United States supplied him with and protected his use of such weapons (against Iran, a U.S. enemy), the United States even going so far as to prevent condemnation of Saddam's methods in the Security Council (for details see the Labour Party "counter- dossier," Sept. 21, 2002: http://www.traprockpeace.org).
Saddam did not use WMD during the Persian Gulf War, because he knew that if he did so U.S. retaliation would be severe. CIA head George Tenet testified before a Senate Committee in early October that the probability of Saddam's using WMD in "the foreseeable future" was "low," except as a desperation move if attacked. In short, even if Saddam Hussein did possess WMD, he could only use them as a means of self-defense, unless he directed them against a U.S.-approved target, as in the 1980s.
3. Saddam's obstructive behavior toward Security Council resolutions and the inspections regime is intolerable
This charge assumes that the inspections regime has moral standing and has not been an instrument of a U.S. program and vendetta. In fact, although the inspections system was put up nominally to assure the elimination of Iraq's WMD, throughout the Clinton years it was repeatedly made clear that the inspections-sanctions system would stay in place until Saddam Hussein was removed.
This eliminated any incentive for Saddam to cooperate with inspections, and it also showed that the inspections system was a cover for a quasi-hidden U.S. agenda. It has also been acknowledged by U.S. and high UNSCOM officials that the United States used UNSCOM to spy on Iraq in preparation for military attack, which helped targeting in the December 1998 "Desert Fox" bombing campaign carried out by the United States and Britain. That bombing campaign, the numerous further bombings, and the "no-fly zones" were never authorized by Security Council rulings or decisions, or the 1991 truce accord with Iraq, and are therefore illegal, unilateral acts of aggression.
The inspections regime is also discredited by the fact that its sole proponents, the United States and Britain, have regularly refused to allow the enforcement of Security Council resolutions when this suited their political interest. Resolution 687, which imposed sanctions and inspections, also called for the creation of a WMD-free zone in the Middle East. This has not been implemented, as it would require the United States to admit to, and force the elimination of, Israel's large stock of WMDs.
In the case of Iraq, the United States and Britain have also used Iraq's alleged 687 failings to continue the "sanctions of mass destruction," which have resulted in more than a million civilian deaths.