Not War Yet

November 2002


UN Votes to Keep Saddam in Power

On the face of it, the UN Security Council's unanimous vote in favor of President Bush's Iraq resolution looks like a complete win for Bush and his coalition. Right after the vote, though, Prime Minister Tony Blair explained it all to us. Apparently, Saddam is not a problem if he gets rid of his weapons of mass destruction. And since he's clever enough to choose survival over these weapons, he gets to stay in power. The Bush Doctrine won't apply -- neither will logic.

Listening to the British prime minister is always a good way to find out what the American president means. The two men agree on world affairs, and Mr. Blair's British English is eloquent, simple, and understandable. For his part, Mr. Bush has no native language of his own and requires translation even for those of us who speak Texan.

In short, here's what the PM said: 1) Iraq must get rid of its weapons of mass destruction or war will result. 2) If Iraq complies with the demands of the UN, there will be no war. 3) To the Iraqi people, Saddam without the bad weapons is your problem, not the UN's, NATO's, Britain's nor America's. Overthrow him if you can.

So, apparently, Mr. Bush mis-spoke (no surprise there) when he linked Saddam to terrorism. If Saddam were a supporter of terrorism, the Bush Doctrine would require US Marines in Baghdad whether the UN approved or not. Thus, Saddam is off the hook as a sponsor of terrorism, but he's still worth a major war because he has these weapons that worry us. But without those weapons, he's free to murder his own people more conventionally, which doesn't threaten the region's stability it seems. Perhaps, Mr. Bush's verbal problems would clear up if his thinking did as well.