Violating U.N. peace accord, Iraq reopens war with U.S

0 Comments | Insight on the News, Oct 1, 2002 | by Jonathon Moseley

America already is at war with Iraq. Legally, the Persian Gulf War ended in 1991 with the signing of a cease-fire agreement. But that cease-fire has been violated. For 11 years, Iraq has shot at U.S. airplanes. Iraq publicly celebrates when it thinks it has succeeded in blasting a U.S. airplane out of the sky. Iraq also tried to kill former president George H.W. Bush in direct retaliation for having lost the very same war.

Yet, some at the State Department would go about things the hard way. Inspections are a lame issue compared with Iraq's live fire. Why do some in diplomacy use their weakest arguments instead of their strongest?

One condition of the cease-fire was that Iraq must prove it does not have weapons of mass destruction. Complaints that the White House hasn't proven that Iraq has these weapons totally miss the point. The shoe is on the wrong foot. We don't need to prove anything.

The United States was prepared to go all the way to Baghdad in 1991 but for Iraq's agreement that it would prove it didn't have weapons of mass destruction. Hussein violated that condition. Ergo, he should not remain in power.

Jonathon Moseley
Arlington, Va.