The Washington Post has an article about how the current White House administration has a habit of distorting the truth, especially when it come to the war with Iraq. Specifically the article mentions that Bush has lied about:
- unmanned aircraft that could be used "for missions targeting the United States."
- a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency saying the Iraqis were "six months away from developing a weapon."
The article doesn't mention some of the other lies about Iraq that the President has uttered including:
- the weapons inspectors were kicked out in 1998 (they actually chose to leave before an escalation of US bombing)
- the close link between Saddam and Al Qieda
The LA Times has an interesting article on the failure of US attempts at “preemptive strikes.” It also offers a model of how we could contain and reduce the threat of Saddam Hussien. The article points out that Kadafi was once America's number one enemy and unlike Saddam was directly connected to terrorist attacks against the West. However, the threat of Kadafi has been greatly reduced by a combination of containment and limited sanctions – not a massive bombing campaign.
Anther model that has been suggested is supporting the reformers in Iran. Although Islamic extremists still have some power in Iran, it seems that the reformers are firmly in control. The large young population has little attachment to the Islamic revolutionaries that seized power 20 years ago. We should be supporting the reformers and using Iran as an example of to export Islamic moderation to the rest of the Middle East.
Yet another model for reducing the threat of Saddam has been proposed by Sojourners Magazine. Massive nonviolent civil disobedience by the Iraqi population may seem a bit naive to some but it's worked before (the Phillipines, most of Eastern Europe, Serbia).
- unmanned aircraft that could be used "for missions targeting the United States."
- a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency saying the Iraqis were "six months away from developing a weapon."
The article doesn't mention some of the other lies about Iraq that the President has uttered including:
- the weapons inspectors were kicked out in 1998 (they actually chose to leave before an escalation of US bombing)
- the close link between Saddam and Al Qieda
The LA Times has an interesting article on the failure of US attempts at “preemptive strikes.” It also offers a model of how we could contain and reduce the threat of Saddam Hussien. The article points out that Kadafi was once America's number one enemy and unlike Saddam was directly connected to terrorist attacks against the West. However, the threat of Kadafi has been greatly reduced by a combination of containment and limited sanctions – not a massive bombing campaign.
Anther model that has been suggested is supporting the reformers in Iran. Although Islamic extremists still have some power in Iran, it seems that the reformers are firmly in control. The large young population has little attachment to the Islamic revolutionaries that seized power 20 years ago. We should be supporting the reformers and using Iran as an example of to export Islamic moderation to the rest of the Middle East.
Yet another model for reducing the threat of Saddam has been proposed by Sojourners Magazine. Massive nonviolent civil disobedience by the Iraqi population may seem a bit naive to some but it's worked before (the Phillipines, most of Eastern Europe, Serbia).
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