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Jewish World Review March 11, 2003 / 7 Adar II, 5763
Laura Ingraham
The real predator drones
The American people must be reminded that if we had followed the rationales above (if you can classify them as such), Slobodan Milosevic would still be ethnic cleansing his way through Kosovo. We proceeded militarily in Serbia without UN approval yet where was Kennedy's huffing and puffing then? Where was Daschle's deploring our "end-run" around international authority? And of course there was no similar outrage expressed when Bill Clinton ordered four-days of air strikes against Iraq in December 1998 without the UN's permission. Unfortunately for the Dems, before the ink on their latest talking points is dry, new facts are always getting in the way of their anti-Bush, pro-UN spin. Most Dems pride themselves on being enviro-champions, so what do they think of the latest revelation that Saddam has rigged his oil fields with explosive devices? (Undoubtedly, that's our fault, too.) And Dems seem to have faith that a beefed up Blix Brigade can give us peace of mind about WMDs in Iraq, but how will "triple the number of inspectors" (Dean's bright idea) convince Saddam to give up the chemical weapons that he intends to spray on our soldiers? A former Republican Guard member, who just defected last week, has told authorities that it is "100 percent guaranteed" that Hussein will use those deadly WMDs against our military. Oh, and Hans Blix is now scurrying to explain why in his recent UN testimony he failed to mention Iraq's possession of predator "drone" aircraft (a handy way to disperse chemical weapons on our troops). Will the latest revelations about what Saddam is planning for our troops change any Democrat minds? Don't hold your breath since other facts haven't dulled their Bush bashing. As global elitists, Dems insist that we act only within the parameters of the UN, despite the fact Saddam has continued to keep inspectors twisting in the wind. Hussein carries out a selective p.r. conscious disarmament and like trained seals Dominique De Villepin and his friends in the U.S. Congress bark approvingly. Yet even Blix conceded in his 173-page report that Iraq has failed to account for, among other things, 50 Scud B warheads and 6,500 bombs laced with chemical weapons, VX nerve agents and anthrax. But the "process is working." The process is working fine-if you're France or Russia. Both countries place obstructing the US higher on their "to do lists" than obstructing Saddam Hussein. No one other than Saddam himself is contending that Iraq's compliance has lived up to the letter of UN Resolution 1441 ("immediate and complete"), but again, the facts don't matter. Perversely, it seems like the more we learn about Iraq's failure to come clean, the more willing the UN is to cut it more slack. Russia is the latest to affirm its unwillingness to hold Hussein accountable. We should all be having a bad case of déjà vu. From 1997 on, the Iraqis would not have been able to thwart the old UNSCOM disarmament regime but for the Security Council's spine deficit. Any time Iraq tried to restrict UNSCOM's authority, object to its leadership, or change its staff, it got a boost from Moscow in the UN. Hussein later rewarded Moscow handsomely for its help. Between 1997 and 2000 Russian-Iraqi trade quintupled, as Hussein gave Russia preference over other potential trading partners in the "oil for food" arrangement.
As we are about to embark on war in Iraq, the Administration should be making a list, and checking it twice. This time we must
not allow anyone to forget where the naysayers at home and abroad stood when we needed, and asked for their support. One
thing is certain-they will try to elbow their way into any victory parade after the coalition of the willing has done the heavy lifting,
claiming they supported a free Iraq all along.
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03/04/03: The French PR machine crashes
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