Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2002 | 9:35 a.m.
THERE IS A CASE to be made for attacking Saddam Hussein. It is up to President George W. Bush to make it.
The war drums are beating in our little part of the Western Hemisphere and the target is Iraq and its megalomaniacal dictator. That is no secret. In fact, it is precisely because the administration let the cat out of the bag so long ago that we must have a frank and open discussion in this country about his next move.
First, a qualifier. I don't like Hussein, don't like what he stands for and with whom he stands. If it had been up to me, I would have taken him out on my way to Afghanistan almost a year ago. And a few of his friends in the region, too.
I believe that when you are going after a bad guy, you shouldn't let him know you are coming. Otherwise he may do something unexpected and very, very bad. We have done just that with Saddam.
Ever since Desert Storm, we have threatened him, whacked him on the head once or twice, cruised a missile or two his way and shot down some aircraft. Of late, we have kept the most open of secrets about our buildup of arms and material in the gulf region and we have telegraphed every possible war scenario conceivable via the Sunday talk shows and the front page of The New York Times. In short, he knows we are coming after him.
And, what has Saddam done? Nothing.
That, in itself, is troubling. The Soviet Union had nuclear tipped warheads pointed our way for most of the Cold War and what did they do? Nothing.
I am not suggesting the hot-tempered but cool heads that ran the USSR all those years are like Saddam Hussein. The fact of the matter is, we don't know what he is like nor what he will do when he goes nuclear. I, for one, do not want to wait around to find out. But we never attacked the Soviet Union when we knew they had the ability and, from time to time, the overwhelming desire to destroy us.
So why Saddam? And why go after him before we finish the job we set out to do following Sept. 11? You remember that, don't you. We were going to eradicate al-Qaida and every terrorist organization around the globe. And we were going to bring justice to Osama bin Laden. Have we done all of that? Much of that? Any of that?
There is a realistic belief that whether or not we go this one alone, we may marshal the forces of evil against the United States in a way that will bring down a reign of terror in this country that will make Sept. 11 pale by comparison.
The daily tragedies we have witnessed in Israel with innocent men, women and, especially, children dying in discos, movie theaters and shopping malls could become a way of life in this country once we pull the trigger on Iraq. There are many people out there who really do hate us, however misplaced that hatred may be. And some of them will do their level best to get back at us.
As a country, we can learn to live with terrorism if we know our cause is just and justified. But, if we do not go into this thing in unison, we could be witnessing a reprise of Vietnam and no one in America wants to go back there.
That is why it is essential for our president to lay out his case to the American people. It is nice that he is going to the United Nations this week. It is comforting that he is pleading his case to our allies, such as they are. But none of that matters nearly as much as a frank discussion with the American people.
If we are going to be asked to pay the bill -- in economic terms as well as the loss of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness -- to defeat the bad guys in this world once and for all, then by George, tell us the truth.
I think that is exactly what President Bush has in mind. At least I hope so. Clearly, there is no reason to withhold the evidence from our enemies, they already know we are coming. So isn't it right to give us the benefit of what the administration knows?
I am not talking about sending the vice president or others to speak in his stead. We need to hear it from our president. And, if he makes the case, he will get the American people behind him in a way that it will matter not how bad it gets before we win.
Pre-emptive strikes in this very dangerous world have a place. The Israelis proved that when they destroyed Iraq's nuclear capability over 20 years ago. And they are proving it daily when they "take out" a terrorist bomb-maker by activating his handiwork around him.
Life is not so simple anymore that we can wait for the bad guys to strike us first. All we should ask, though, is that we know they are bad and that we know they are going to strike. Tell us that much, Mr. President.
The rest, while it won't be pleasant, will be easy.
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