Desert Storm Reprise

October 2002


The Shooting Never Stopped

Thanks to the kerfuffle about UN resolutions and Congressional support for regime change in Iraq, the world has chosen to close its eyes to a simple fact about US-Iraqi relations -- namely, the shooting never stopped. Western, mainly US, aircraft enforce no-fly zones in Iraq by using live ammunition. This means that when the war comes, the spark will not be weapons inspectors being thrown out of Baghdad again, but rather a conscript Iraqi soldier hitting a multi-billion dollar plane with a lucky shot from his AA gun.

The Pentagon has released footage showing Iraqi AA systems targeting and firing (and missing) as recently as late September. In response, US fighters destroyed the AA site. But the game is a dangerous one.

Consider the vote in Congress after a US pilot is killed by a random shot that brings down his plane. Who would vote against the use of force? History records that the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution that gave LBJ the power to perpetrate the Vietnam War passed with only two votes in the negative. The nays this time around would be lucky to get that. And the UN Security Council might not even convene.

So remember when the argument gets heated and the volume on CNN reaches painful levels, it really doesn't matter. This war never really ended.