By The Ben
In the early fall of 2002 President George W. Bush swore to the world that he would finally disarm Saddam Hussein. Bush said that weapons of mass destruction should not be left in the hands of a person like Hussein. He said that the Iraqi people have suffered long enough and that it was time to intervene. He said that by Hussein throwing the weapons inspectors out of Iraq four years ago; that Hussein had broken the rules set down by the Security Council and that now Bush would force him to play by the rules. Although since that time it has been Bush who has been threatening the use of weapons of mass destruction, it has been Bush that has been ignoring his people, and it has been Bush that has defied the orders of the Security Council. The snowball began rolling in late September when Bush introduced resolution 1441 as a way to deal with the problem, and with little revision it was passed on November 8th. Since then President Bush has continually gone against the orders of the resolution that he wrote. Operative clause 10 states that all countries will hand over any information they have that pertains to the Iraq situation to the weapons inspectors. Yet the US had been hoarding all of the information we have been gathering and not sharing it with the inspectors. Colin Powell has continually stated that the information the US has proves that Iraq is not complying, but then refuses to share the evidence with the inspectors or other countries. Then, in addition to that, the information that is publicly known that the US has claimed proves their case, has been stated to prove nothing by all experts throughout the world. Then there is operative clause 12, which the US has continually defied. The clause states that the Security Council, not the United States, will decide whether further action is to be taken against Iraq. From the very beginning, since the moment Iraq submitted its declaration of weapons, Bush has been saying that Iraq is in clear defiance of the resolution. Despite positive reports coming from Head Inspector Hans Blix, Bush has repeatedly claimed that military action must be taken against Iraq. In that effort, Bush has to date ordered over 170,000 US troops to the Middle East in preparation of a US preemptive strike. Bush has declared that he will launch an attack on Iraq if he deems it necessary whether the Security Council gives its support or not. In line with the theme of defying the Security Council, Bush has also chosen to go against the wishes of NATO. After several countries tried to block a US plan for NATO to help defend Turkey in the result of a war with Iraq, Bush routed the plan through a sub-committee that deals with defense. The reasoning for this was that none of the countries trying to block the plan were on the committee; the plan worked. While listing the welfare of the Iraqi people as a reason to invade Iraq, Bush has done almost nothing in an effort to look out for their well-being. It is a simple fact that in the event of a war with Iraq the Iraqi people will suffer severely in the months following the fall of the government. It is also a fact that it would take years to rebuild Iraq if the US attacks. Yet despite these facts, after months of planning an invasion, US officials only began discussing plans to rebuild Iraq and protect its people in the week of February 17, 2003. These are not the actions of a person concerned with the safety of the Iraqi people. In addition to refusing to listen to the wishes of the Security Council, Bush has refused to listen to the wishes of his own people. For months, people across the US have been protesting Bush’s actions. On February 15, millions marched throughout the US and millions more throughout the world to say that what Bush was doing was wrong. Bush’s only response to this was that the millions who protested do not influence policy in the US. The chief representative of a government “for the people, by the people” does not believe that the citizens of his country should have a say in the policy of that government. When all of these things are taken into consideration, it is hard to tell which is the tyrant, Bush or Hussein. President Bush has proven himself to possess the worst qualities of the same man that he claims to be a tyrannical dictator. While Bush may say that he believes one thing, he has proven himself to practice another. Before we as a country and a people move to criticize the actions of another country’s leader, we should take a good look at the people who are calling the shots in our own country.