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October 12, 2004
Removing Saddam
President Bush made a comment in the last debate that surprised me. In response to a question on the justification for going to war with Iraq, President Bush said:
“Saddam Hussein was a threat because he could have given weapons of mass destruction to terrorist enemies. Sanctions were not working. The United Nations was not effective at removing Saddam Hussein.”
The President seems to be saying that his expectation was the U.N. should have removed Saddam Hussein, and it was this failure that led him to war with Iraq. The problem in Iraq was the person of Saddam Hussein.
The U.N. was formed as a body of nation peers, and assumes that each nation has the right to govern itself. It would be impossible for the U.N. to “remove” Saddam Hussein. Beyond that, the U.N. was founded on the principles that have guided the United States since it’s inception – Responsibility, Respect and Freedom.
The White House has said they consider Syria, Cuba, and Libya as members of a “junior varsity axis of evil,” and yet the administration continued to negotiate with Libya in efforts to have them end their WMD programs. In December 2003, Libya announced that it had agreed to reveal and end its programs to develop weapons of mass destruction.
President Bush’s effort to have Libya end their WMD programs represents the highest and most powerful concepts our nation stands for. By contrast, President Bush’s intense focus on removing Saddam Hussein from power represents the basest motives our nation has ever demonstrated – Fear and Prejudice.
President Bush has led the nation away from what the founding fathers of this nation stood for: Mutual Respect, Self Sufficiency and Individual Freedom. We have invaded a nation that was no threat, killed and wounded thousands of innocent people, and imposed our will on an otherwise working and growing society. Iraq did not have the opportunity to grow into a free nation itself – President Bush has forced it upon them.
Posted by pgutwin at October 12, 2004 8:55 PM