Letter: Inspections our best hope in Iraq crisis

Friday, Jan. 3, 2003 | 9:38 a.m.

A Dec. 30 letter in the Sun by Victor Moss gives us a "history lesson" on Iraq. If I understand him correctly, he believes that the only way to prevent war in the Middle East is to start one.

His argument that Iraq might attack one of his neighbors is more plausible than the Bushies' nonsense about attacking the United States or being related to terrorism. Still, his retreat from official policy is also false.

Far from comparable to 1939 Germany, Iraq is nearly totally disarmed. Inspections worked and will continue to work better than killing 300,000 innocent civilians merely to establish another dictator who is more agreeable to United States oil plans. I suggest that if the readers want to know a well-documented history of the Iraqi inspections, they read "War Plan Iraq" by Milan Rai.

Mr. Moss makes a good point that Iraq fought for oil. The United States supported him in his war with Iran, but when Saddam invaded Kuwait, we had to show him who the real imperial power was. We have pushed for leadership change and not "regime change."

Most dictators in the Middle East don't hate us; the people do because we don't support their national development. As long as we are dependent on oil, there will be wars and terrorism. Our demand for oil will double in the next 20 years; and as China's use increases, the resources will decrease, causing more terrible wars, not to mention the disasters of global warming. There is another way: alternative fuels. We had better start now.

JERRY BITTS