"But the world isn't like that."

[Terrance]

jbor wrote:
> 
> Terrance wrote:
> >
> > This is not true. The USA is certainly not working  towards peace or
> > working to  halt the current bombings.
> 
> I think it is true. They are certainly working towards stopping future
> terrorist attacks (attacks which Saddam has praised), towards peace in the
> Middle East etc etc, and have paid heed to what the UN has said all along. I
> don't think the policy of isolationism worked particularly well in the long
> run for either the US or the rest of the world in the world wars, and the
> current situation is nothing like US aggression in Vietnam or Korea. It's a
> bit like the Cuban Missile Crisis.

 

http://www.csis.org/press/pr02_32.htm

"The steady process of proliferation in the Middle East is affecting the
entire region, and not simply the most radical states. Important
developments are taking place in countries like Israel and Egypt as
well. At the same time, senior U.S. officials have made it clear that
the
biological threat is becoming far more serious than in the past, and
that the
threat of terrorism using weapons of mass destruction is also growing.
Nuclear
conflict between India and Pakistan is not the only potential of war
that could kill millions of people. In fact, there is a growing prospect
that
biological proliferation will give states like Iran, Iraq, and Syria
weapons with nuclear lethality," Cordesman said. 

http://cns.miis.edu/research/wmdme/iraq.htm

There is no doubt that the entire region is and has been for some time
now a threat to world peace. Some nations are more dangerous than
others. 
Iraq is a problem that needs to be addressed. However, the current
policy of the USA is not the solution. The USA is currently bombing
Iraq. That's an act of war. It is also preparing for a larger war
against Iraq. It has stated publicly that it intends to remove the
current government and that it has a plan for a post Saddam Iraq. But
War will only complicate the problems. 


> 
> Bush isn't affiliated with terrorism. It's quite possible that Saddam is.

I think we will discover that he is affiliated with terrorism. And I
think we would discover this to be a fact in Syria, Iran,  Saudi Arabia,
Pakistan, other nations in the region too, if we go to war with them and
uncover the facts. However, war is not best way to uncover these facts. 


> 
> > The USA is preparing the
> > "legal"  groundwork to escalate the war on Iraq. And it has laid that
> > groundwork as it has escalated the war. I think it's obvious that the
> > USA will continue to escalate the war and prepare the world for what it
> > plans to do, that is, bomb the hell out of Iraq. Bush is  going to get
> > rid of SH.
> 
> He'd like to. And Saddam is a tyrannical dictator. Much of Bush's rhetoric
> was aimed at getting the UN to become a little more determined about getting
> the weapons inspectors back into Iraq. That's the important first step.
> Without the real threat of military strikes, and evidence that Bush & co.
> mean it, Saddam could have just kept palming the UN off as he has been for
> years. Whatever the UN Security Council decides this week, it won't be
> motivated by trying to appease Saddam.

I agree that the UN needs to play hard ball with Iraq. However, the USA
bombing is not simply a threat, it is an act of war and it undermines
the process. 


> 
> If Saddam hasn't been manufacturing weapons of mass destruction he's got
> nothing to worry about ("So, he can 'just relax, fella'.") If he is, why is
> he? Think about it.


He's got them. And the UN has the legal grounds to go in and find them.
But the Bush administration is not really interested in the arduous task
the UN must now undertake. 
I agree that the Bush (GHW, GW)  wars on Iraq are not the same as
Vietnam.  Vietnam is not the model for every USA war. That's just a
silly thing some people keep saying. Afghanistan is another Vietnam and
so forth. Utter nonsense. However, it's not like the Cuban crisis
either. Even though the Cuban crisis involved WMD, it was part of the
cold-war and really belongs, historically and geopolitically  with Korea
and Vietnam. 

The current crisis has more to do with Post Cold War developments.