Cheney Fails to
Convince
The New York
Times | Editorial
The
International Herald Tribune
http://www.iht.com/articles/69020.html
Thursday, 29 August, 2002
With Republican mandarins cautioning the Bush administration about
marching on Baghdad, Vice President
Dick Cheney grabbed the microphone this week to make the case for war. We're
glad the White House is talking at greater length and more specifically about Iraq, but Cheney
failed to offer convincing answers to questions that give many Americans pause
about using military force to oust Saddam Hussein. The White House has yet to
meet the difficult burden of showing why Iraq's weapons
programs, including its efforts to develop nuclear arms, require an American
invasion.
No one disputes that Iraq threatens
important American interests in the Middle East, from
affordable oil to Israel's security. As
Cheney accurately noted, Saddam has twice attacked his neighbors.
He has secretly and illegally developed biological and chemical weapons and may
not be far from developing nuclear bombs. He openly defies the disarmament and
inspection requirements of the cease-fire that halted the Gulf War.
Unfortunately, the United States faces many
foreign threats. These include other dictatorships equally intent on developing
unconventional weapons and other Middle Eastern nations that refuse to accept Israel's right to
exist. For good reasons, Washington has generally
not launched offensive military actions in response to unrealized threats. The
risks posed by Iraq may be so unique and compelling as to justify an exception, but
that is a case the administration has yet to make. The White House is also
obliged to explain why preventive military action aimed at overthrowing Saddam
is the best available response to the dangers he poses and how Washington would install
and sustain a new, less threatening Iraqi government.
With all this groundwork still ahead of it, the administration
seems already to have decided to bypass the UN Security Council and cut
Congress out of its constitutional decision-making role. That would be a
terrible mistake.
Any justification for attacking Iraq would have to
rest in large part on Baghdad's flagrant
violations of the UN Security Council resolution that ended the Gulf War more
than a decade ago. If President George W. Bush wants to renew hostilities with Iraq, he should seek
a new resolution telling Baghdad that it must
comply fully and immediately with the cease-fire's disarmament and inspection
demands or face a reopening of hostilities. There is a slim chance that such a
resolution could bring renewed inspections that would at least slow down Iraq's
unconventional-weapons programs. If Baghdad continues to
throw up obstacles, going through the United Nations would line up
international support for any eventual American military action. Washington's lack of
interest in working with the Security Council is foolish and has needlessly
isolated the United States from virtually
all its European and Arab allies.
While Bush has promised to consult with Congress, he seems to be
under the illusion, supported by a recent memo from the White House counsel,
Alberto Gonzales, that he can rely on the 1991 vote that authorized the Gulf
War. That is legal sophistry, reminiscent of Lyndon Johnson's use of the Tonkin Gulf resolution to
authorize a disastrous land war in Vietnam. Invading Iraq could involve
substantial casualties and possible long-term occupation responsibilities. A
decade-old vote is no substitute for the role that the constitution grants to
Congress in taking the nation to war.
Cheney's stern speech suggests that the Bush administration has
set a course for military action against Iraq. It still has
to persuade the country that war is warranted.
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is
distributed without profit to those interested in the information for research
and educational purposes.)
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