Disarming Iraq
Greg Ordy, February 2003
Let's assume that we could wave a magic wand and instantly remove all weapons of mass destruction from Iraq.
For how long should we celebrate? Seems to me that the answer is no longer than the amount of time it would take to recreate those weapons. In the case of biological and chemical weapons that amount of time appears to be measured in months. Nuclear weapon development can be done in a few years.
The problem is not the weapons, but the people who control the weapons.
There is a strong parallel between the gun control argument and the Iraq disarmament argument.
Some folks believe that if we just have a few more gun laws, and more background checks, and more FBI databases, and more waiting periods and many other restraints and regulations that we will suddenly become safe from gun violence.
Other folks believe that guns don't kill people, but that people kill people. The gun is nothing more than the tool used by the criminal, and the gun itself carries no inherent good or evil. The use of the gun determines its positive or negative value. The problem is the criminal, not the gun.
Many nations possess weapons of mass destruction. Historically, they have fallen into one of two categories. Some nations, such as Great Britain, largely see the world as we do, and I can't imagine their weapons being used against us. Other nations, such as the old Soviet Union, seemed to value their own lives to the extent that the doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) acted as a powerful and sufficient restraint.
Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden do not fall into either category. I do not believe that inspections, or monitoring, or disarmament will make us any safer in their cases, simply because there are no infallible magic wands, and the real evil is manifest in the heart of man, not the weapon, whether it be a gun, or a nuclear bomb.
We could choose to simply ignore the problem. Sadly, we have already been the victims of the awesome weapon of mass destruction that included 19 motivated zealots and some box cutters. How do your hope to inspect, monitor, regulate, and disarm that weapon? Add in the Iran-Iraq war, the invasion of Kuwait, and a few assorted crimes against humanity, and I don't need any more evidence or United Nation reports.
It brings me no pleasure to conclude that our security as a nation improves with the death notices of these two criminals and their followers, but I am led to no other conclusion. All of the other conclusions deny their accomplishments and aspirations, the lessons of history, the true nature of evil, and leave us far more vulnerable to the next attack.
Copyright (c) 2003, Greg Ordy
Last update:
Sunday, March 09, 2003 11:34 AM
Back to my Home Page