Posted by
David Coughlin on Sunday, March 16, 2008 5:28:18 PM
Iraq – The
Right War for the Right Reasons
The Global War on Terror (GWOT)
did not begin September 11, 2001, but was the defining act in a continued war on the United States that began decades before. These Islamo-fascists
were actively supported and financed by a number of autocratic regimes
throughout the Middle East. These terrorists are not limited by any conventions
or rules of law, and routinely targeted innocent civilians as an accepted
tactic. Terrorist acquisition and potential use of Weapons of Mass Destruction
(WMDs), including chemical, biological, or nuclear, is a real threat, since
high volume destruction is a stated goal of these terrorist groups.
Iraq invaded its neighbor country of Kuwait in 1990. In 1991 a United Nations coalition, lead by
the US, liberated Kuwait and drove the military back into Iraq. The international community maintained a policy of
containment towards Iraq. This policy included numerous and crushing military
and economic sanctions, US and UK patrols of Iraqi no-fly zones declared to protect
Kurds in the north and Shi’ites in the south, and ongoing inspections to
prevent Iraqi development of chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons. Meanwhile
the UN passed a series of Resolutions demanding enforcement of the arms control
disarmament. The US and the UK enforced the truce and monitored the arms control inspections, until
the inspectors were thrown out in 1998. In October President Clinton signed the
“Iraq Liberation Act” to establish a program to support a democracy in Iraq. Iraq regime change was openly discussed as a national objective.
President Bush was elected November 2000. On September 11,
2001 the United States was attacked by al-Qaeda terrorists. On September 20th
President Bush announced the new Global War on Terror (GWOT), including the
doctrine of pre-emptive military action, termed the Bush Doctrine. In October
the US and UK launched Operation Enduring Freedom to invade Afghanistan, capture Osama bin Laden,
destroy al-Qaeda, and remove the Taliban which had provided support and safe
harbour to al-Qaeda. Later NATO troops joined the conflict in Afghanistan.
In September 2002 President Bush
began formally making his case to the international community for an invasion
of Iraq. After considerable debate the UN Security Council adopted a compromise
resolution, 1441, which authorized the resumption of weapons inspections and
promised “serious consequences” for noncompliance. In October 2002 the US
Congress passed Public Law 107-243 “Authorization for Use of Military Force
Against Iraq Resolutions of 2002.” In March 2003 the US and the “Coalition of
the Willing” of 50 countries invaded Iraq.
The reasons are clear and have
been proven by the results of the invasion. The primary rationale was to
enforce the multiple UN Security Council Resolutions that were passed since the
earlier Gulf War. The second reason was to ensure the WMDs were destroyed as
required by the UN Resolutions. The third rationale was to remove the regime
that supports terrorists and terrorism. The final rationale was to topple
Saddam Hussein and free the Iraqi people.
The Authorization for the Use of
Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002, passed by majorities of both
parties in both Houses, began with a series of 23 “Whereas” clauses justifying
the war. Twelve of these reasons for going to war refer to UN resolutions
violated by Saddam Hussein. Ten of these reasons for going to war refer to the
elimination of chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons or weapons development
programs. Ten of the reasons for going to war refer to support for
international terrorism or harboring terrorist organizations. Five of the
reasons for going to war refer to the need for freeing the Iraqi people from a
brutal regime
Many questions remain about the
WMDs. Iraq was able to use chemical weapons in its
war against Iran and to kill large numbers of its own
Kurdish population in the 1980s. By the time UNSCOM left Iraq in December 1998, it had eliminated a
large portion of Iraq's chemical weapon potential. UNSCOM had
overseen the destruction or incapacitation of more than 88,000 filled or
unfilled chemical munitions, over 600 tons of weaponized or bulk chemical
agents, some 4,000 tons of precursor chemicals, some 980 pieces of key
production equipment, and some 300 pieces of analytical equipment. After
UNSCOM inspectors left Iraq in December 1998, U.S.-led forces bombed
many sites believed to be chemical weapon plants. After the bombing, reports
emerged that Iraq had rebuilt many of those sites, and
that the sites appeared to be operating. No large stockpiles of
WMD munitions were found. Small
number of old chemical shells were recovered. Several suspected chemical weapons
factories were uncovered after the invasion. Evidence of chemical weapons
development was found and capable of being used to reconstitute the weapons
development in a relatively short time.
Iraq managed to produce anthrax, aflatoxin, botulinum
toxin, gas gangrene, ricin, and wheat smut, and was also known to be working on
cholera, mycotoxins, shigellosis, and viruses (including camelpox, infectious
hemorrhaghic conjunctivitis and rotavirus) as well as genetic engineering.
There are suspicions that Iraq was also working on smallpox. Many aspects of Iraq's biological weapon program remain unknown. These
unknowns include the total amount of germ agent Iraq produced and the status of Iraq's unaccounted for stocks of biological growth media,
agents, production equipment and handbooks, as well as munitions and warheads. Iraq admitted that it weaponized biological agents
between December 1990 and January 1991. The types of munitions under
development for use with biological weapons included Al Hussein missile
warheads, R-400 aerial bombs, aircraft drop tanks, pilotless aircraft, helicopter-borne
spraying systems, 122 mm rockets, LD-250 aerial bombs, and fragmentation
weapons. Furthermore, inspectors say that Iraq became self-sufficient; meaning it no longer needed
imports to fuel its BW program. The uncertainties that surround this program
made it all the more threatening in the absence of inspections and monitoring.
Iraq has pursued the development of nuclear weapons since
the 1980s. UN inspectors learned that Iraq's first bomb design, which weighed a
ton and was a full meter in diameter, was replaced by a smaller, more efficient
model, that made it small enough to fit on Iraq's Scud-type missiles. Iraq mastered the key technique of creating an implosive
shock wave, which squeezes a bomb's nuclear material enough to trigger a chain
reaction. The inspectors determined that Iraq had managed to develop a successful bomb design and
lacked only the fissile material to fuel it. Tons of enriched uranium were
recovered after the invasion.
There is no question that Iraq had programs to develop chemical, biological, and
nuclear weapons of mass destruction. There is also no question that much of
their stockpiles were destroyed during the ‘90s as part of the UNSCOM
inspection program. It is believed that one quarter of Iraq’s WMDs were destroyed under UN pressure during the
early 1990’s. It is believed that Iraq sold approximately another quarter of the weapons
stockpile to Arab neighbors during the mid to late 1990’s. It is also believed
that the Russians insisted on removing another quarter in the last months before
the war. With no record of there destruction there will always be a question of
their disposition and whether they can be reconstituted as a weapon for use in
the future. The last remaining WMD, the contents of Saddam’s nuclear weapons
labs, were still inside Iraq when the coalition forces arrived in 2003, but were
stolen from under the Americans’ noses and sent to Syria. Syria is one of eight countries in the world that never
signed a treaty banning WMDs. Depending on what was shipped out of the country;
the ability to reconstitute a WMD program is undetermined. The recent air raid
by Israel in Deir al Zour, Syria was designed to destroy the nuclear work underway there, and discourage
any further work developing nuclear material there. At this point the only
assurance is that Iraq no longer has this capability. There is also a hope that any country
that may have received this material will not be foolish enough to try to
weaponize this material for their own or any terrorist organization use.
Iraq is one of seven countries
that had been designated by the Secretary of State as state sponsors of
international terrorism. UN Security Council Resolution 687 prohibited Saddam
Hussein from committing or supporting terrorism, or allowing terrorist
organizations to operate in Iraq. There
is ample evidence now available to substantiate the claim that the Iraq government actively aided and abetted radical terrorist
groups. In 1993, the Iraqi
Intelligence Service (IIS) directed and pursued an attempt to assassinate, through
the use of a powerful car bomb, former U.S. President George Bush and the Emir
of Kuwait. Kuwaiti authorities thwarted the terrorist plot and arrested 16
suspects, led by two Iraqi nationals. Iraqi
intelligence met with Osama Bin Laden in 1995 when Bin Laden requested that
Iraqi radio broadcast his speeches. Bin Laden also “requested joint operations
against the forces of infidels in the land of Hijaz,” which is Saudi Arabia. In November
1995 al-Qaeda bombed the Saudi National Guards headquarters in Riyadh, killing five Americans. In 1999 Fedayeen
collaborated with Uday Hussein on plans to sabotage, bomb, and assassinate
Kurdish areas in Iraq, Iran, and London. Iraq
shelters terrorist groups including the Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MKO),
which has used terrorist violence against Iran and in the 1970s was responsible
for killing several U.S. military personnel and U.S. civilians. Iraq sheltered
several prominent Palestinian terrorist organizations in Baghdad, including the
Palestine Liberation Front (PLF), which is known for aerial attacks against
Israel and is headed by Abu Abbas, who carried out the 1985 hijacking of the
cruise ship Achille Lauro and murdered U.S. citizen Leon
Klinghoffer. Iraq also sheltered the Abu
Nidal Organization, an international terrorist organization that has carried
out terrorist attacks in twenty countries, killing or injuring almost 900
people. Targets have included the United States and several other Western
nations. Each of these groups have offices in Baghdad and receive training,
logistical assistance, and financial aid from the government of Iraq. In April
2002, Saddam Hussein increased from $10,000 to $25,000 the money offered to
families of Palestinian suicide/homicide bombers. The rules for rewarding
suicide/homicide bombers are strict and insist that only someone who blows
himself up with a belt of explosives gets the full payment. Payments are made
on a strict scale, with different amounts for wounds, disablement, death as a
"martyr" and $25,000 for a suicide bomber. Mahmoud Besharat, a
representative on the West Bank who is handing out to families the money from
Saddam, said, "You would have to ask President Saddam why he is being so
generous. But he is a revolutionary and he wants this distinguished struggle,
the intifada, to continue." Iraq maintained a terrorist training facility at Salman
Pak, where both Iraqis and non-Iraqi Arabs receive training on hijacking planes
and trains, planting explosives in cities, sabotage, and assassinations.
The final rationale was to topple Saddam Hussein and free the Iraqi people.
President Clinton signed the “Iraq
Liberation Act” to establish a program to support a democracy in Iraq. Iraq regime change was openly discussed as a national
objective. Saddam Hussein rejected every
attempt to address the UN Security Council Resolutions peacefully. Meanwhile
Saddam Hussein led a repressive regime that murdered thousands of its own
citizens. A key principle of the Bush Doctrine was to replace dictatorships with
democratic governments as both morally justified, since it leads to greater
freedom for the citizens of such countries, and strategically wise, since
democratic countries are more peaceful, and breed less terrorism, than
dictatorial ones. Removing Saddam
Hussein and the Baathist regime freed 25 million Iraqis to live a life free of
fear. Although the al-Qaeda has replaced the Baathists as the source of fear,
the recent surge has finally turned the corner on returning the country to its
freely formed government.
In summary invading Iraq was the
right thing to do in 2003, and is still the right thing to do, now that we know
the full extent of Iraq’s progress destroying their weapons of mass destruction
programs, their support of international terrorism, and their repression of the
Iraq people.
The Global War on Terror in general is
covered at http://www.returntocommonsensesite.com/fp/terrorism.html
and the Middle East Theater in
particular is covered at http://www.returntocommonsensesite.com/fp/middleeast.html
.
David Coughlin
Hawthorne, NY