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The sober people in
Washington are a lot more worried about North Korea than
Iraq
For better or worse, a war is on the way  You say you're getting fed up with all the waiting? Can't wait for the shooting to begin and the MOABs to start mushrooming up along with the littered bodies?  Well, buck up, Bucko.
With hundreds of thousands of troops locked, loaded and camped just outside
Saddam's doorstep, it should be just a matter of mere days (read: March 18)
until the tar pit in the United Nations bubbles itself out and all hell breaks
loose. Oh, the actual fighting
would be over in less than weeks, but then we will have Muslim and Arab
terrorists' reprisals to look forward to, and won't that be exciting? This president's
"diplomatic" approach has been so mindlessly bellicose that the world is
actually siding with Saddam Insane, uh, Hussein, instead of us. And that has
everything to do with the president's arrogant claim of not needing anybody's
permission to attack Iraq, or anywhere else. Most well-meaning
Americans interpret this disgrace under pressure as: Iraq is developing weapons
of mass destruction, failing to cooperate with weapons inspectors and violating
its obligations under U.N. resolutions. Saddam has got to go. Most well-meaning people
everywhere else in the world interpret it as: You do not have the right to
invade anyone anytime you want without the rest of the world's permission.
American sovereignty does not take precedence over international treaties and
consideration.
Isolationists aside, the fact is that most of America is marginally buying
Bush's over-inflated sense of supremacy, even as the rest of the world
overwhelmingly opposes it. But the thinking now is
that U.N. backing will give a war international legitimacy abroad and,
undoubtedly, what will be called "moral" legitimacy here at home. It would also ensure that
the costs of reconstructing Iraq would be shared by the organization. And, oh
yes, it would also help British Prime Minister Tony Blair -- ironically,
Dubbya's possible first Casualty of Pre-war --keep his job in the face of his
party's revolt over Iraq. That being said, if you
are frustrated regarding the current U.N wranglings, be assured you are not the
only one. Let me simplify it for you: It appears that a
carefully worded compromise could get the United States the nine necessary votes
it needs to have a majority in the council. The United States has the
support of Britain, Spain, Bulgaria, and now, Cameroon, meaning it only needs
four of the other undecideds -- Guinea, Angola, Mexico, Chile and Pakistan.
Despite rhetoric, Pakistan appears to now be on board with the United States. So
does Guinea and Angola. That makes eight votes, which leaves Mexico and Chile as
critical swing votes. France, Russia, China,
Germany and Syria are against us. France says it will veto the vote if it
passes. As a result, the "America: My Country Right or Wrong" crowd vows to stop
eating Brie if this happens. Sacre bleu! The plain fact is that
Dubbya so incredibly botched any semblance of American diplomacy, that America
has never been so universally hated in its history in the eyes of the rest of
the world.
Still, we're going in. So until then, just sit
tight, count the U.N. votes (not that it's going to make any difference), and
enjoy the war.
And if you're a real American, you'll postpone that vacation trip to gay Paree
-- and just about everywhere else in the world. Dick White can be reached through the Internet at [EMAIL PROTECTED] South Coast Today
http://www.s-t.com/daily/03-03/03-13-03/a04lo035.htm
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