Garrett M. Vonk

‘So: Is Iraq a brutal totalitarian regime? Check! Is it a proven threat to its neighbors? Check! Is it a proven threat to its own people? Check! Is it a proven threat to our allies? Check! Is it willing to export terrorism abroad? Check! Is it likely that if it got weapons of mass destruction, it would use them recklessly? Check! Is it working very hard to get weapons of mass destruction? Check! Would Saddam’s people be better off without him? Check! Would we and our allies be better off without him? Check! Do we have the power and capabilities to get rid of him without paying too high a cost? Check! And, would getting rid of him make it less likely that another September 11 would “happen again”? Check. ‘

This comes from an excellent two-part piece, Same Old Tiresome Arguments of War (and here’s Part 2)

Another good part: ‘War is not the best means to get at Iraq’s oil. If all we wanted was a bigger slice of the Iraqi petro-pie, all we’d have to do, literally, is say so. Dick Cheney could negotiate that with Saddam over Turkish coffee and a few tortured lackeys tomorrow. Saddam has made it known that he’d be perfectly willing to sell a lot more oil to the United States, and that he’d certainly write up some fresh contracts if the U.S. would drop its sanctions and forget about this “regime change” nonsense. ‘

I couldn’t agree more. If I weren’t so busy with schoolwork, I’d make a few points myself…