There's no stopping
the US now
By
Salama A Salama
Nothing will stop the US from attacking Iraq. This is the message the administration of President George W Bush is sending to Saddam Hussein, the world, and the United Nations. Iraq has just submitted a lengthy report on its weapon programmes to the United Nations, meeting its deadline in this respect. But even before the report was examined, the US administration warned that unless it includes an admission that Iraq possesses weapons of mass destruction, Washington would not accept it and President Hussein would have to face the consequences.
Consequently, we are now witnessing an absurd scenario in which the Bush Administration is trying, yet again, to act outside the framework of the United Nations. President Bush says that Hussein's cooperation with the international inspectors is insufficient to avert a war. In other words, weapons inspection will not necessarily help Iraq escape the threat of a military strike. The inspection process is just beginning, and the Iraqi report, running into thousands of pages, will take weeks to scrutinise. Even so, America continues to make threats, and is stepping up its military preparations in the Gulf, readying its forces for the moment of attack. Experts expect the assault to take place sometime in February.
The Iraqi regime, succumbing to Arab and international pressure, is fully cooperating with the international inspection teams, having abandoned its cat-and- mouse tactics of old. The international inspectors, for their part, have voiced satisfaction with Iraq's conduct and refrained from provoking the Iraqis or spying on them, although any assessment of their performance at this time is, perhaps, premature. Nonetheless, this has not prevented Washington from questioning the inspectors' competence and calling on them to be more forceful in their methods. The Bush Administration may end up accusing the inspectors of being deceived by Baghdad or perhaps even collusion. Alternatively, Washington may simply claim that Iraq has intentionally withheld information about weapons that US and UK intelligence services believe exist.
The Bush Administration is also likely to continue trying to persuade Iraqi scientists to leave their country and seek asylum in the US. Washington's frenetic efforts to rally international support for its campaign have reached an unprecedented scale -- as though it were preparing for World War III. Relations between Iraq and Kuwait have reached a new low, with Kuwait rejecting President Hussein's apology for the invasion and decrying his criticism of the US military build-up. Was Baghdad expected to welcome Kuwait's participation in US military preparations? Was it supposed to be pleased that Iraqi opposition figures are gathering in Kuwait, hoping to replace the Iraqi regime once the US launches its attack?
The US is steadily continuing its military build-up in the Gulf, but its preparations will not be complete until it surmounts one last obstacle: obtaining a new resolution from the UN Security Council, sanctioning military action against Iraq. Such a resolution will probably be sought on the grounds that the reports submitted by Iraq or the arms inspectors are flawed. The course of the future will thus depend on the three permanent members of the Security Council (aside from the UK and the US) who have not given their consent to the campaign for which preparations are currently being made.
The mask has fallen from the face of the world's sole superpower, as it draws the world to the brink of war, totally disregarding peaceful solutions to the problems it sees. Interestingly, US conduct is reminiscent of Israel's policy regarding the Palestinians and of Sharon's continual sabotage of peace efforts. A recent poll conducted by an independent US organisation and The International Herald Tribune in 44 countries found that anti-American sentiment is running high owing to US designs to attack Iraq and remove Saddam Hussein by force. Perhaps this would provide the answer US writers have been seeking for sometime now to the question of 'why do they hate us?'
