U.S. President George W. Bush last month accused Baghdad, along with
Iran and
North Korea, of making up an "axis of evil" bent on backing
international
terrorism and developing weapons of mass destruction. It seems that
Senator
Joseph Lieberman has convinced the President that Bagdad is a threat to
the
United States and launching a military attack seems to be the only
alternative. Other close advisors such as Deputy Secretary of Defense
Paul
Wolfowitz and the Defense Chairman of the Advisory Board, Richard Perle,
are
also calling for the bombing of Iraq as the only sure method of
destroying
this threat.
When Joseph Lieberman says that it's necessary to attack Iraq because
Iraq is
a threat to the United States, does he really think that smart Americans
believe this? Does he really think that Iraq would attack the United
States?
Senator Lieberman must take you and me for a fool. Let me tell you why
this
is utter nonsense. No one can launch an intercontinental ballistic
missile
without the United States instantly knowing its exact location.
Therefore,
any small country that launches a missile in our direction will know
that it
is committing national suicide. The warheads on just one of our
submarines
could cause these small countries literally to cease to exist. How long
did
it take the United States to defeat Iraq in the Gulf War? The last time
I
looked it was 38 seconds, and that was with conventional warfare, not
nuclear, which the United States has more of than all nations combined
times
1000.
If Iraq hit the United States with one or two missles, despite the loss
of
life, would strategically be nothing more than a pinprick. It would be
like
poking a sleeping bear. All you would do is make the bear mad.
Therefore,
it is extremely unlikely that Iraq or Iran, or for that matter North
Korea
would trade national suicide for inflicting minimal damage on the United
States. And building a force of ICBMs large enough to be
real threat is beyond the economic capabilities of those three
countries.
So why did Senator Joseph Lieberman convince President Bush to focus on
Iraq
as a threat? I'll tell you why. It's not the United States that
Senator
Lieberman is concerned about. We know that Iraq is not a threat to the
United States. Iraq is a threat to Israel. Senator Lieberman and other
pro-Israelis in Washington don't want anyone else in the Middle East to
own
Nuclear weapons except Israel. It's Israel, not the United States, that
Lieberman is concerned about. And he is willing to risk American lives
and
American money to insure that Israel is the super power in the Middle
East.
Isn't it odd that while Lieberman is pushing for a bombing of Iraq, it's
the
Israelis who are inflicting most of the casualties in Middle East with
its
current bombing campaign. In just the last 2 days the Israelis have
killed
29 Palestinians, and most of them are innocent civilians including
children.
Iraq hasn't killed anyone since the Gulf War, and that's been 11 years
ago.
In just the last 17 months the Israelis have killed over 900
Palestinians and
have demolished more than 300 homes causing more than 1500 children to
become
homeless. And the Israelis have been doing this with F-16 fighter jets,
M1A1
Abram tanks, 155mm howitzers, Chaparral and Sidewinder missiles, and
Apache
and Cobra attack helicopters all supplied by the good 'ole United
States.
When President Bush talks about the threat of countries with weapons of
mass
destruction, he always adds ``and our allies.'' Iraq and Iran are not a
threat to the United States or to Europe. They are a threat to Israel.
North
Korea is not a threat to the United States, but the Israelis greatly
fear
that North Korea will sell missiles to Iran and Iraq. So when Senator
Lieberman says that Iraq is a threat to the United States, he really
means
that Iraq is a threat to Israel. His loyalty isn't so much with the
United
States; its more with Israel, and that's not right. And you know what?
I'll
bet most of the people, including President Bush already understands
that,
but are too scared to challenge him. After all, to challenge or
criticize
Israel
is political suicide. Too many politicians have learned the hard way in
that
criticizing Israel is like turning the lights off to one's political career.
And in the meantime, partly to justify this boondoggle, the United States
is embarking on a reckless foreign policy that is more likely to produce
war than peace. We should be talking to the Iraqis, the Iranians and the
North Koreans rather than making reckless statements on global television
that amount to a declaration of war. It can prove to be a deadly mistake
to start believing your own deceptions and propaganda.
We are not the Big Daddy Boss of the world, and just
because others disagree with our policies or decline to jump when we tell
them to jump doesn't mean they are our enemies. And that's why the United
States is and will be so vulnerable for more attacks on its own soil. They
will be vulnerable and they will be targeted, unless America wakes up.
It's time for all of us to know the truth and act accordingly.
James J. David is a retired Brigadier General and a graduate of the U.S.
Army's Command and General Staff College, and the National Security
Course,
National Defense University, Washington DC. He served nearly 3 years of
Army
active duty in and around the
Middle East from 1967-1969.
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