We are paying too high a price for Hussein

[JackSwift]

Yes, it is a good thing that we finally got what we were promised before we bought our ticket for the Bush production of the Tragical History Tour, but it has come at a high price. It feels like paying a Rolls Royce price for a used Yugo.

Hussein was and is an evil man, and we can hope that the Hague will do with his legacy as it has done with Milosevic, that is if the Bush administration has the courage to try him in such a neutral venue.

But at a cost of 160 billion in cash to date, at least the disclosed cost, over 400 lost American lives, more than 5,000 American lives shattered through serious injuries, and tens of thousands of innocent Iraqi lives ended in violence, our allies disgusted with us, our enemies emboldened, and no end in sight, we can breath a sigh of relief that the work started 12 years ago that should have been finished then is now finally finished. The Hussein bogey man is now a small fightened figure who will never hurt anyone again. Not that he ever hurt us, but he did hurt his own people immeasurably.

There must be 100 other dictators around the world oppressing their populations whom we will not liberate, nor could we, now that even the cheerleaders of aggressive war to overthrow dictators narrowly see at least the monetary cost. More's the pity, because in some country's the population really would welcome liberation.

As for America's war against terror, now that we have captured the non-terrorist Hussein, can we now get back to focusing on actual terrorists? Osama bin Ladin is apparently still out there. And while he is not in a position to plan any more spectacular attacks against Americans on American soil, he still needs to be brought to justice for his crimes against us, and the growing terror movement he left behind needs to be fought, one recruit at a time.

When is the Bush Administration, now in the midst of taking its bows over capturing the non-terrorist, non-WMD, Hussein, going to explain why we took this Hussein detour? Until they do, it is going to look like we have spent all this blood and money and destroyed international law for some combination of personal Bush/Hussein family revenge, oil, helping Israel, and incidental attempts to democratize Iraq.

All of these goals, except perhaps oil, will prove entirely chimerical. The Bush/Hussein family feud is meaningless to virtually every American except those named Bush. Helping Israel may prove to be an illusion entirely, but we can hope that perhaps the Palestinians and Israelis will seize this opportunity for peace. But that is probably a hope in vain: none of the countless previous opportunities have been taken seriously by both sides at the same time, why should this be any different. There are simply too many Palestinian and Israeli participants who benefit far too much over continued hostility.

Liberating Iraq for democracy is a task that is far beyond the diplomatic skills of the Bush Administration: their only two diplomatic tools are threatening war before invading and offering gratuitous insults to friend and foe alike. When JFK "let word go forth to friend and foe alike", he was hardly contemplating that the word would be that America is prepared to ignore all diplomatic strategies ever invented except warfare.

Lastly, we are left with oil. If one thing is more likely than not to come from all of this commotion in Iraq, it is that they will likely offer up their oil to the world market, and the world market will likely buy it. This, of course, is an end that could have been achieved simply by lifting sanctions, which even I opposed while Hussein remained in power as it would have just lined his personal pocket.

The coming days and weeks will show us whether the capture of Hussein will be seen as an opportunity for all the Iraqi's to lay down their arms and live with each other in peace, or as a chance to ignite further violence now that the Baathists' leader is completely neutralized.

What lessons can most of us agree on from this debacle? First of all, Mr. Churchill, do not divide the Middle East with artificial borders that ensure generations of inter-tribal warfare. We're nowhere near out of the woods on that one.

Second, perhaps the United States will finally start to understand that just because we can overthrow leaders in countries like Iran and Iraq, that there are consequences for doing so. Expensive consequences and bloody consequences. But don't hold your breath, as the American leadership is heavily invested in not just the oil industry, but also the arms industry.

Third, we should perhaps acknowledge that once we had supported Hussein's rise to power and his war against Iran, that we might have gone too far in supplying him with chemical and biological weapons in the 1980s, and that we should not supply foreign powers with our expertise in these fields, which we aren't even supposed have except defensively.

Fourth, and most importantly, is that we should understand the Army phrase FUBAR. It translates loosely to: Fouled Up Beyond All Recognition. This belated and small victory in finally capturing Hussein is no excuse to overlook the fact that the Bush administration FUBARs every single task it puts its mind too. This includes Iraq. They tried to sell us the notion that we would waltz in (we did) and everything would change and we would be celebrated in the streets and democracy and reason would take hold within days. It isn't going to happen. Nor has federal spending come under control. Federal spending under Bush has increased over 20 percent. Revenues were deliberately slashed by the Bush administration. Our deficits are the largest in history with no end of red ink in sight. Our diplomatic relations worldwide are in a shambles because no one in the Administration has any manners or tact, we have lost 3 million jobs net since Bush took office with no rebound in sight. The Bush administration has apparently never heard of a budget and operates the federal government on a series of "continuing resolutions". Oh, and I can't carry a teeny weeny pocket knife around anymore.

I, for one, am happy to see that Saddam Hussein is no longer at large. I think that we have seriously damaged our national security to do so. Lil' Georgie, you burned down the house making us breakfast in bed for Christmas, but by gum, the syrup for the pancakes sure tastes sweet. Yes, I think I will enjoy this breakfast. Next time though, since you insist there will be a next time, make it at your friend Tony's house and bring it over.

[Jim Sagle]

1. Yes, we are.

[imax2268]

2. Here's a good place to

see that cost...

Click this

[meti57b]

3. Excellent article!! Thanks for writing that. It's right on the mark.