Some tough questions I'd like to see answered (from "The Daily Reckoning"):
35 QUESTIONS THAT WILL NEVER BE ASKED ABOUT IRAQ
- From A Post On The DR Discussion Board This Week,
Attributed To Texas Congressman Ron Paul's Office
"...Soon we hope to have hearings on the pending war
with Iraq. I am concerned there are some questions that
won't be asked- and maybe will not even be allowed to be
asked. Here are some questions I would like answered by
those who are urging us to start this war.
1. Is it not true that the reason we did not bomb the
Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War was because
we knew they could retaliate?
2. Is it not also true that we are willing to bomb Iraq
now because we know it cannot retaliate- which just
confirms that there is no real threat?
3. Is it not true that those who argue that even with
inspections we cannot be sure that Hussein might be
hiding weapons, at the same time imply that we can be
more sure that weapons exist in the absence of
inspections?
4. Is it not true that the UN's International Atomic
Energy Agency was able to complete its yearly
verification mission to Iraq just this year with Iraqi
cooperation?
5. Is it not true that the intelligence community has
been unable to develop a case tying Iraq to global
terrorism at all, much less the attacks on the United
States last year? Does anyone remember that 15 of the 19
hijackers came from Saudi Arabia and that none came from
Iraq?
6. Was former CIA counter-terrorism chief Vincent
Cannistraro wrong when he recently said there is no
confirmed evidence of Iraq,s links to terrorism?
7. Is it not true that the CIA has concluded there is no
evidence that a Prague meeting between 9/11 hijacker
Atta and Iraqi intelligence took place?
8. Is it not true that northern Iraq, where the
administration claimed al-Qaeda were hiding out, is in
the control of our "allies," the Kurds?
9. Is it not true that the vast majority of al-Qaeda
leaders who escaped appear to have safely made their way
to Pakistan, another of our so-called allies?
10. Has anyone noticed that Afghanistan is rapidly
sinking into total chaos, with bombings and
assassinations becoming daily occurrences; and that
according to a recent UN report the al-Qaeda "is, by all
accounts, alive and well and poised to strike again,
how, when, and where it chooses"
11. Why are we taking precious military and intelligence
resources away from tracking down those who did attack
the United States- and who may again attack the United
States- and using them to invade countries that have not
attacked the United States?
12. Would an attack on Iraq not just confirm the Arab
world's worst suspicions about the US- and isn't this
what bin Laden wanted?
13. How can Hussein be compared to Hitler when he has no
navy or air force, and now has an army 1/5 the size of
twelve years ago, which even then proved totally inept
at defending the country?
14. Is it not true that the constitutional power to
declare war is exclusively that of the Congress? Should
presidents, contrary to the Constitution, allow Congress
to concur only when pressured by public opinion? Are
presidents permitted to rely on the UN for permission to
go to war?
15. Are you aware of a Pentagon report studying charges
that thousands of Kurds in one village were gassed by
the Iraqis, which found no conclusive evidence that Iraq
was responsible, that Iran occupied the very city
involved, and that evidence indicated the type of gas
used was more likely controlled by Iran not Iraq?
16. Is it not true that anywhere between 100,000 and
300,000 US soldiers have suffered from Persian Gulf War
syndrome from the first Gulf War, and that thousands may
have died?
17. Are we prepared for possibly thousands of American
casualties in a war against a country that does not have
the capacity to attack the United States?
18. Are we willing to bear the economic burden of a 100
billion dollar war against Iraq, with oil prices
expected to skyrocket and further rattle an already
shaky American economy? How about an estimated 30 years
occupation of Iraq that some have deemed necessary to
"build democracy" there?
19. Iraq's alleged violations of UN resolutions are
given as reason to initiate an attack, yet is it not
true that hundreds of UN Resolutions have been ignored
by various countries without penalty?
20. Did former President Bush not cite the UN Resolution
of 1990 as the reason he could not march into Baghdad,
while supporters of a new attack assert that it is the
very reason we can march into Baghdad?
21. Is it not true that, contrary to current claims, the
no-fly zones were set up by Britain and the United
States without specific approval from the United
Nations?
22. If we claim membership in the international
community and conform to its rules only when it pleases
us, does this not serve to undermine our position,
directing animosity toward us by both friend and foe?
23. How can our declared goal of bringing democracy to
Iraq be believable when we prop up dictators throughout
the Middle East and support military tyrants like
Musharaf in Pakistan, who overthrew a democratically-
elected president?
24. Are you familiar with the 1994 Senate Hearings that
revealed the U.S. knowingly supplied chemical and
biological materials to Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war
and as late as 1992- including after the alleged Iraqi
gas attack on a Kurdish village?
25. Did we not assist Saddam Hussein,s rise to power by
supporting and encouraging his invasion of Iran? Is it
honest to criticize Saddam now for his invasion of Iran,
which at the time we actively supported?
26. Is it not true that preventive war is synonymous
with an act of aggression, and has never been considered
a moral or legitimate US policy?
27. Why do the oil company executives strongly support
this war if oil is not the real reason we plan to take
over Iraq?
28. Why is it that those who never wore a uniform and
are confident that they won't have to personally fight
this war are more anxious for this war than our
generals?
29. What is the moral argument for attacking a nation
that has not initiated aggression against us, and could
not if it wanted?
30. Where does the Constitution grant us permission to
wage war for any reason other than self-defense?
31. Is it not true that a war against Iraq rejects the
sentiments of the time-honored Treaty of Westphalia,
nearly 400 years ago, that countries should never go
into another for the purpose of regime change?
32. Is it not true that the more civilized a society is,
the less likely disagreements will be settled by war?
33. Is it not true that since World War II Congress has
not declared war and- not coincidentally- we have not
since then had a clear-cut victory?
34. Is it not true that Pakistan, especially through its
intelligence services, was an active supporter and key
organizer of the Taliban?
35. Why don't those who want war bring a formal
declaration of war resolution to the floor of
Congress?..."
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