Build a coalition first

Submitted by John Philips (Japan), Aug 21, 2002 at 07:04

OK, so Saddam is a bad guy, which there is no shortage of. Why not attack North Korea? They have been developing nukes, too.
The answer is obvious. Japan, South Korea, our other allies in the region, don't want us to.

Which of our allies in the Arab world, or even the Middle East, want us to attack Saddam? Only Israel. I don't think that's enough.

Maybe Saddam should have been overthrown when we had the chance, and when the whole world was mad at him. That was then. This is now.

"There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries."

Saddam has made up with Egypt, with Saudi Arabia and even with Kuwait. If we invade him now, alone, it will look to everyone as if we are only doing Israel's bidding. We already have too much of that reputation in the Muslim world.

Before invading Iraq unilaterally we have to rebuild the kind of international coalition we had in the Gulf War. Otherwise we will simply tip moderate Muslims into the terrorist camp.

But before doing that, maybe we should get Usama bin Ladin, "dead or alive." If we don't it looks like W attacks Saddam out of pure frustration.

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