THE ROBERT W. WHITAKER ARCHIVE

WE DON'T OWE THE IRAQIS OR THE ISRAELIS A DAMNED THING | 2002-09-21

First we hear the Administration arguing that we need to go into Iraq because Saddam Hussein is developing weapons of mass destruction.

But, after an impassioned talk about the immediate danger of the mass murder of Americans by Saddam, we then get a lecture about what we owe Iraq. After invading Iraq to remove the clear and present danger Saddam Hussein poses, our troops have to stay there until we give Iraq a stable democracy.

Nobody asks what one has to do with the other. Why do we owe Iraq a democracy in return for their threatening to murder us? As always, you will only see that question asked here.

"The road to peace in the Middle East peace lies through Baghdad." When I heard that said, my ears pricked up. "Middle East peace," when the media or respectable conservatives use the term, always means peace for Israel.

I do not want American troops dying for Israel. I do not want American troops staying in Iraq to make the world safe for Israel.

I brought up the danger of mass terrorism long before anybody else was concerned about it. See November 21, 1998 - SUPERTERRORISM, repeated September 11, 2001. But I am also very, very watchful about anybody using terrorism as an excuse to get Israeli lobby support.

If the objective is to destroy the Iraqi threat of weapons of mass destruction, that is one argument for invasion that has a clear objective. But the second they start talking about "our responsibility in Iraq," I say forget it. The only reason Bush says we have for a military interest in Iraq is because they are a threat to our lives.

Everybody but me seems to agree that, because they threatened our lives, we owe the Iraqis a stable government and a democracy.

It should be a warning to you that this is the only place you will find any objection to that nonsense.