Danny ChaiI read some more about it and I think I’m more anti war with Iraq. I disagree with Scott – I think there exist good reasons for war. And I disagree with Dave, I don’t think the critical issue is that Iraq is linked with Al Qaeda. I think the issue is that Hussein is a loose cannon, unpredictable. He has had chemical and biological weapons before (probably does still) and has used them – his willingness to use such means already distinguishes Iraq from other rogue states. And if he were in fact to obtain nuclear weapons, who knows what would happen. I think that’s the point. You would expect a country not to risk certain things, but with him, you never know.
But I disagree with Henry in that non-war people are just non-war. I think there are prudent reasons why war with Iraq right now in particular would be a bad idea. There’s no support for it internationally, and we risk a lot pursuing war without that. It may give Arab nations more reason to hate us. I don’t buy Tom Campbell’s “they already hate us” thing. I don’t think hate’s a binary proposition. There’s levels of hate that makes you dislike, hate that make you protest, and hate that might lead you to something more radical. Risking alienating Arab nations even more in light of a non-immediate threat seems more risky to me than removing that threat.
More troubling to me is that war with Iraq doesn’t have support from some critical players even in this nation – notably Colin Powell and reportedly the Joint Chiefs of Staff. That’s worrisome to me. Also, as Newsweek was saying, while Hussein is already a loose cannon, who knows what he would do if his back were up against the wall in a war. He might disperse his weapons to Al Qaeda, something which right now is just a remote possibility, because, why not? What would he have to lose?
So my only semi-informed opinion right now is that there are both reasons for and against war with Iraq but the negatives outweigh the positives, and might in fact put our country at greater risk. Just my opinion.
How does this situation change short of an attack on Pearl Harbor? I guess that’s my question. And I have no idea.