Wednesday, March 9, 2005
There are noble reasons that are given for the United States being in Iraq, but a ridiculous amount of imagination is required to actually believe them. The Bush Administration has knowingly based the war on three false pillars: one, that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction; two, that they are linked with terrorists groups such as Al Qaeda; and three, that we are bringing its people freedom and democracy.
Where are the weapons of mass destruction? United Nations weapon inspectors found no credible evidence of them. Defectors testified that the remaining arsenal was effectively destroyed in the 1990s. The chemical weapons that Iraq produced before the first Gulf War had a shelf life of less than three years. Documents proving that Iraq had attempted to purchase uranium were nothing but forgeries. Mobile chemical labs were the most credible threat of weapons of mass destruction Colin Powell could present — a threat so intangible that no one has actually seen one, forcing Powell to use computer simulations instead of photographic evidence. Perhaps the most telling indication that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction is that after a year of occupation, we have found nothing.
How about the terrorists? Saddam Hussein was a megalomaniacal dictator, and by his very nature, he grubbed for any and all power. He did not tolerate grass roots movements of any kind, religious or secular, because any such movement constituted a threat to him. He expressed his contempt for Osama Bin Laden, and although Hussein was pleased by the Sept. 11 attacks, not a single hijacker was from Iraq. No, instead of combating terrorism, the Iraqi invasion has acted as a magnet for terrorists: It is the latest poster child for martyrdom.
And how does one instill democracy, where historically, none has ever existed? It can’t come from the end of a gun. The United States does not want a democracy in Iraq. Any democracy in that country would certainly not be pro-American or pro-Israeli. What if the good people of Iraq democratically decide that the United States may not purchase its oil? No, a democracy in Iraq simply wouldn’t do.
The best explanation for the war in Iraq is that we want to install a free market economy; there are fortunes to be made, both in rebuilding and in the oil industry. Now, the flow of oil and currency can be virtually assured by the establishment of a permanent military base there.
History supports this explanation. In 1953, the CIA orchestrated a coup that overthrew the democratically elected prime minister of Iran, Mohammad Mossadegh. He had no weapons of mass destruction. He detested autocracy and loved freedom. He tolerated no ties with terrorist groups. But Mossadegh would not let the oil flow, so we overthrew him, installing in his place the dictator Reza Shah, a man who brutalized his own people and allowed radical Islam to flourish. Our intense meddling with Iran’s politics polarized whole sections of the population, so those radical Islamic groups became more and more anti-American. Who could blame them? We put their George Washington under house arrest, toppled their democracy and ended their civil liberties, so we could exploit their natural resources. Why wouldn’t they hate us? It is not unreasonable to draw connections linking the CIA’s exploits of the 1950s to the terrorist retaliations of 2001. This begs the question: What punishment awaits our country in another 50 years for our current aggression in Iraq?
I can’t pretend anymore, for behind all of Mr. Bush’s impossible reasons for going to war, he is nothing more than a terrorist in his own right. Iraqi civilians and our own military personnel are being killed en masse because of his empty fabrications. Shameful, Mr. Bush. Shameful.
Griffiths is a Johnstown, Colo., graduate in music composition.
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