Last weekend, the world came together in one voice as millions
of anti-war protesters took to the streets in dozens of countries
around the world. I was lucky enough to be in San Francisco last
Sunday where one of these protests took place. Over 200,000 people
completely blocked off one of the busiest streets in town. It was
an awesome experience, to say the least.
It seems like no one, not even the United Nations, is keeping
President George W. Bush from his war aims. The anti-war movement
is only budding, but I hope it will soon grow quickly enough to
show the Bush administration that the people of the United States
and the rest of the world are intelligent and good enough to know
that it is possible to win without war.
Iraq’s December weapons declaration contained many omissions and
discrepancies, but this does not prove that Iraq actually possesses
weapons of mass destruction. Iraq has been cooperative to U.N.
inspectors. The monitors have had unfettered access to all sites
and complete freedom of movement. Now, we are given even more hope
as we have seen Iraqi cooperation in allowing U2 surveillance
flights. Bush claims he believes that war should only be a last
resort, but he has completely ignored other options. The
administration has not adequately informed the public of the
consequences of this war, nor has it shown that other disarmament
options are available.
In order to disarm Hussein, a global effort will be necessary.
However, the international support that the United States received
after Sept. 11 is eroding. If we go to war, the prestige and
respect of the United States in the international community will
sink to an all-time low, negatively affecting our ability to
conduct diplomacy for years to come. A U.S.-led invasion of Iraq
also plays into the hands of Osama bin Laden and other terrorists.
It will be the greatest recruitment tool that any terrorist could
ever dream of. An attack will also destabilize regimes in a region
where populations are already overwhelmingly opposed to the United
States.
Experts estimate that casualties will run into the hundreds of
thousands. Not only will innocent Iraqi people die, but many young
American troops will die as well. Once the war is over, troops will
have to occupy the region for years, costing even more lives. But
if none of this scares you, think of all the money the
administration has and will put into this war. The Bush
administration’s war on terrorism and its proposed military
intervention in Iraq have sparked the steepest increases in
military and security spending in two decades.
The military budget has jumped from $329 billion in 2001 to over
$380 billion in 2003. In addition, the Pentagon has received over
$30 billion in emergency and supplemental funding, and Congress has
authorized roughly $3 billion in new military and security aid for
U.S. allies in the war on terrorism. Washington is also negotiating
an economic aid plan with Turkey that will give the country $20
billion of our money to set up military bases there. And these
expenditures are just the down payment on a long-term buildup that
will push U.S. military spending to Cold War levels and beyond.
Cost estimates of the war and subsequent occupation begin at $100
billion. This is our money- that should be put into this country,
not Iraq.
War should be only a last resort. Non-military means are
available for neutralizing the Iraqi threat, but Bush has focused
almost exclusively on the use of military force. Little or no
attention has been given to other options. Nor have the costs and
benefits of these options been compared to those of military
action. Iraq’s weapons programs are certainly a threat to security,
but there are more effective ways of containing this danger.
Tough inspections with cooperation from U.S. intelligence
agencies is the best way to neutralize whatever threat Saddam
Hussein poses. As long as the current U.N. inspections continue,
there is no chance that Iraq can develop or use weapons of mass
destruction without being detected. The presence of more than one
hundred highly trained weapons specialists equipped with the
world’s most advanced monitoring technology will enable U.N.
officials to detect any militarily significant weapons activity.
Proof of the viability of inspections is evident in those of the
1990s. U.N. weapons monitors dismantled and accounted for nearly
all of Iraq’s ballistic missiles. They destroyed all of Iraq’s
major chemical and biological weapons production plants and most of
its known stockpiles.
Still, U.N. inspections aren’t the only options we have in
containing Hussein’s evil plotting. Other options include:
*Improving the monitoring of Iraq’s borders.
*Establishing sanctions assistance missions that make illegal
arms shipments more difficult and costly.
*Improving cargo monitoring at the port of Aqaba, Jordan.
*Providing economic incentives to gain the cooperation of Iraq’s
trade partners.
*Exposing and penalizing arms embargo violations.
*Tightening controls on Iraqi oil marketing, taking over or
shutting down the Syria-Iraq Pipeline and require purchasers of
Iraqi oil to submit financial reports to the United Nations.
*Strengthening collective deterrence against potential Iraqi
aggression.
We can win without war by maintaining multilateral cooperation
to contain Iraq. The administration should be pursuing the more
urgent objective-the campaign against terrorism. However, U.S.
officials would like nothing less than to install a pro-American
government that will do Washington’s bidding and open the country’s
oil wealth to Western companies. For these purposes, the White
House believes that the war option remains a necessity.
If the United States is genuinely interested in disarming Iraq,
it should allow U.N. inspectors to do their work We can achieve the
valid objective of disarming Saddam Hussein through legal
diplomatic means. There is no need for war.
If you believe this war is wrong, speak out. The Win Without War
coalition will sponsor a Virtual March on Washington on Wednesday,
Feb. 26.
The White House and every member of the U.S. Senate will be
overwhelmed with calls, faxes and e-mails all day. Virtual March
participants are asked to register for the march at
“_new” href=”http://www.MoveOn.org/”>www.MoveOn.org. They will
be asked to pledge to call and fax their two U.S. Senators and the
White House at particular times during the day.
Taylor Davis is a freshman English major.