|
|
|
March 7, 2003/Adar2 3 5763, Vol. 55, No. 28
Time to take down SaddamKENNETH WEINSTEINAs Jews and as Americans, the last few years have been among the most difficult we have faced since World War II. First, the illusion of the Oslo peace process was shattered by a relentless Palestinian homicidal bombing campaign. Then, Arab terrorists shattered the tranquility of our homeland by killing 3,000 of our fellow citizens on Sept. 11.As Jews and as Americans, our complacency has ended. We have learned a difficult lesson: Those who ignore terrorists or bloody tyrants do so at their own peril. Even in the bloodthirsty Middle East, Saddam Hussein stands alone for his obsession with weapons of mass destruction. In the Iran-Iraq War, which he started in 1981, Saddam attacked Iranian forces with mustard and nerve gas. In 1988, he turned to genocide on his own people, killing at least 5,000 civilians in Halabja with chemical weapons. By the end of the eight-year war with Iran, Saddam had amassed a stockpile of chemical weapons, and the capacity to manufacture these weapons. After Saddam's reckless gamble to control Kuwait's oil fields was ended by an American-led coalition in the 1991 Gulf War, the U.N. Security Council gave Saddam two weeks to disarm and destroy his weapons of mass destruction. Saddam refused to reveal his chemical weapons stockpile. He repeatedly denied having biological weapons, even though his stockpile of these included enough anthrax and botulinium toxin to kill millions of people. Containment of Saddam Hussein has simply failed. Saddam has wantonly ignored 17 different U.N. Security Council resolutions demanding that he disarm. Regime change in Iraq would send a clear signal to the Arab world, which understands force: Jihad as a modus operandi cannot succeed against those who are willing to defend themselves. Though we Americans undertake this regime change for our self-interest, those who benefit the most are those who have suffered the most from Saddam's rule: his own people. The world owes a debt of gratitude to Israel for its 1981 raid on Saddam Hussein's Osirak nuclear reactor. It is up to America and the civilized world to finish Ilan Ramon's task - and to then liberate Iraq and build a lasting peace that will enhance our national security and prospects for peace in the Middle East. Kenneth Weinstein is vice president and director of the Hudson Institute's Washington office. |
