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September 27, 2002/Tishri 21 5763, Vol. 55, No. 5
A time for warEditorialEcclesiastes teaches that there is a time for war and a time for peace.The time of war - in the form of regime change in Iraq - has come. World leaders and experts have leveled convincing charges that Iraq possesses chemical and biological weapons - and is developing nuclear weapons. United Nations weapons inspections do not lessen Iraq as a threat. When Hussein allowed inspectors to search for chemical and biological weapons in the 1990s, he repeatedly impeded their progress. If Hussein again allows them into Iraq, there is no indication he will act differently. Nor is there reason to believe the U.N. has the will to use force, if they must, to enable them to do their job. If Iraq wants to be a member of the family of nations, then Hussein must be removed from power. Too often he has expressed contempt for others - deploying chemical weapons against Iran and even his own people, and flouting U.N. resolutions. Hussein is known to be at work on means of delivering chemical, biological and nuclear weapons conventionally or through terrorist transport. Under his leadership, Iraq represents a continuing threat to the United States and to Israel. While Ecclesiastes teaches that there is a time for tearing down, it also teaches there is a time for building up. In its war against terror, the United States must act to support a transition of leadership in Iraq from the despotic Hussein-led government to a democracy, comprised of the nation's literate and secular middle class, Kurds, and majority Shiite and minority Sunni Muslims. But Iraq is only the first step. President Bush also must turn his efforts to Iran, where the current regime funds terrorist groups and spreads with missionary zeal its hatred of Israel and the United States, from Indonesia to Africa and beyond. One of Israel's greatest fears is Iran's instigating a regional war; one of the West's greatest fears is Russian scientists helping Iran become a nuclear power. The United States must take the lead further in forming coalitions with other nations to apply international diplomatic and economic pressure to control Iran and other nations that foment terrorism. The time is now to urge congressional approval of legislation granting President Bush the authority to act against terror, in Iraq and beyond. Ecclesiastes states there is a season set for everything, a time for every experience under heaven. Now is the season of preemptive and preventive action against terror. |
