President Bush says – over and over – that he has not yet decided whether he will invade Iraq.
Um, as we used to say in the 80s, exCUSE me?
Ask anyone if they believe that – even the most hawkish conservatives – and they will laugh. Of course he’s decided, he decided that years ago! Heck, his closest advisors put together the war plan long before he was even running for President, as told on Nightline last night.
Bush said the best way to deal with rising tensions with North Korea is to involve other nations in the region, such as China, South Korea, Japan and Russia.
“I think the best way to deal with this is in multilateral fashion by convincing those nations that they must stand up to their responsibilities, along with the United States to convince Kim Jong Il that development of a nuclear arsenal is not in his nation’s interests,” Bush said.
OK. I see. Dealing with North Korea requires a multilateral approach, but the U.S. will attack Iraq no matter what the rest of the world thinks.
Am I just missing something here? I mean, I will be the first to say that Saddam Hussein must be removed from power. He is a dictator, a murderer, a tyrant, and a sadistic thug. But what will happen to the U.S. if we begin a policy of “pre-emptive” strikes? Then we play right into the hands of countries like North Korea, who would then justify their attacks by saying that they feared a pre-emptive strike from us, so they engaged in a pre-emptive strike of their own. We’ve kept the peace – more or less – for a long time by the threat of overwhelming force IF ATTACKED. Now, we threaten it WITHOUT being attacked, thus poking the various hornets nests around the world with a big, sharp stick.
