Tuesday, January 28, 2003

A Fly in the Ointment...

"We seek peace. We strive for peace. And sometimes peace must be defended. A future lived at the mercy of terrible threats is no peace at all. If war is forced upon us, we will fight in a just cause and by just means — sparing, in every way we can, the innocent. And if war is forced upon us, we will fight with the full force and might of the United States military — and we will prevail. And as we and our coalition partners are doing in Afghanistan, we will bring to the Iraqi people food, and medicines, and supplies … and freedom."
George W. Bush, State of the Union Address January 28, 2003

A valiant concept, however, war with Iraq would be a tremendously bloody ground war. Thousands upon thousands of innocent Iraqi citizens will be caught in the crossfire and killed or maimed. American bombs will level miles and miles of neighborhoods.
In short, there may not be many remaining Iraqis to liberate from Saddam's vicious dictatorship.
The war George Bush intends to wage will level Iraq.
If attacked, Saddam himself has threatened to burn his own oil fields, releasing toxic air particulants that will suffocate thousands more.
And like the search for Bin Laden, there's no guarantee Saddam will be apprehended, killed or ousted from power. He may not even be in Iraq when the blood starts flowing.
I believe we'd be far better off funding a coup d'etat or having Saddam shot by an assassin like the rabid dog he is.
That's the only way to truly liberate the Iraqi people, and minimize civilian casualties in the process.

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