Mike's Place

By Michael L. Craner

Heavy topics in the news these days, the biggest of course is the threat of war that the United States has hanging over Iraq, with or without support of the United Nations or even our allies.

I’m well aware that Saddam Hussein is a very bad man. The United States would probably be justified in removing Saddam from power based off of his own record of human rights abuses and murdering his own people. Add to the mix the allegations of a nuclear program that is still being pursued, and the existence of chemical and biological weapons, and the course of action seems obvious to me. I think President Bush is handling this well, having given Saddam numerous chances to come clean, and plenty of time to do it as well. Some seem to think that Saddam has only had a few weeks, now stretching into months, to disarm. In reality, he was ordered to disarm 12 years ago. He is like a burning ember under the ashes, just waiting for a bit of air and some tinder to ignite his blaze.

I am against unnecessary war; however, each day I am leaning more to the view that it is the only option left. This is not a case where the Iraqi people can fix the problem themselves, and it will not get better or go away on its own.

My biggest concern in the decision to go to war, or not, is the fact that we can’t seem to win the support of the United Nations, or our allies, on this one. I can certainly understand that there may be details that we the people can’t be told about, for security reasons. I just wonder if we are sharing any of this evidence with the UN or our allies. Surely there is something we can show them that will earn their agreement?

President Bush has announced that we will be sharing our evidence and intelligence soon with our allies and the UN, but has avoided it so far to protect our intelligence sources. That seems logical enough to me. I only hope that if war is decided to be the only remaining option, that we can prove our case and get the support we need, otherwise the United States will surely take on a darker image in the eyes of the rest of the world.

More than that though I hope for a miracle that Saddam and his henchmen will step down and save his people. The United States does not back down, we will not ignore Saddam’s atrocities any longer, and we will not allow the threat of his weapons of mass destruction to continue to exist or be developed. Their mere existence is horrifying, knowing they could be sold to, or stolen for, terrorist groups, and they can be used anywhere in the world.

I would like nothing better than to see this end peacefully, however if it takes a war to disarm Iraq, then I will support it, and my President.