Opinion

Iraqi war justified by oil needs

Richard Whitrock
Opinion columnist

For those who read last weekis column, today begins my several-weeks-long evaluation of the many events that have made this juncture in time so politically interesting. In my crusade to keep all citizens at least informed of the world around them (that they may participate in society effectively, consciously and with dignity), I have decided that it would be best to begin with the most pressing issue at the moment: Iraq.

One of my biggest pet peeves is people who would otherwise be intelligent beings but are protesting "the war in Iraq." It does not bother me that they protest death and destruction or what they view as an unjust aggressive action on the part of a big bully superpower picking on "poor widdle Iwaq." These are very just concerns and I respect them (even if I donit happen to agree with them). Of course, to protest a war, it is necessary for a war to be in existence.

Simply put, people who are protesting "the war in Iraq" at this point are painting their shirts with large red letters that say "mindless drone that hopped on the bandwagon." Why? Because there is no war in Iraq. Not only has the United States not declared war on Iraq, but we also arenit engaging Iraq.

There is not a single U.S. armed forces unit on Iraqi soil, nor is there an Iraqi armed forces unit on American soil. There has not been a single casualty of said war. There are no large-scale or small-scale conflicts (except on paper) in this "war." Not a single U.S. commanding officer has orders to invade Iraq or lead troops into battle.

The closest thing to war between Iraq and the United States is that Iraq occasionally shoots at our planes. That doesnit even qualify as a skirmish, let alone constitute a war. If our current state qualifies as "war," then the "war with Iraq" is quite frankly the sorriest excuse for war in the history of humankind.

Those who protest possible U.S. involvement in a probable future conflict with the regime in Iraq actually have a leg to stand on. It is possible and even likely that there will soon be a conflict between the United States and Iraq, but it is my opinion that such a conflict is long overdue.

Most Americans need little convincing that there is reason to go to war with Iraq. Contrary to popular belief, oil is a valid reason for war because it is a vital resource for the defense of our country. (Trying to run tanks without oil is one of the reasons Germany lost World War II, and simply speaking, most of our war machines require oil).

Saddam poses a material threat not only to the United States, but to his own people as well. The fact that inspectors havenit found much evidence does not mean that Iraq is not in possession.

Some of us remember that Iraq declared itself free of weapons of mass destruction in 1991, and then in 1996 inspectors found a veritable orgy of biological and chemical weapons -- and those are just ones they found. Saddamis history of hiding these weapons should be reason enough to be "aggressive," but the possibility that he will sell them to terrorists on the black market should end the debate cold. 

The U.N. weapons inspectors introduced their 60-day report Monday. Any discerning reader should note right away that not a single person involved with the Iraq situation (even those staunchly against any military action) has denied the existence of the weapons they seek. All anyone says is that more time is needed. So where does that leave us?

What most people cry out is that "war is never the answer" and "diplomacy will fix it, just give it a chance." Then they point out that disarmament was exponentially more effective in Iraq through diplomatic inspections than the duration of the war.

What these people donit realize is that diplomacy and patchwork politics just wonit cut it anymore. It worked so well right after the first Gulf War because Saddam still had his tail between his legs and the memory of a sound trouncing fresh in his mind. This is no longer the case.

There comes a point when it is obvious that the current state of affairs just isnit working, and that "diplomacy" just isnit going to cut it -- the only way to fix things is a clean slate. Itis like an old pair of jeans: After so many patches, you just have to buy new ones.

Granted, there are more ways than war to get a clean slate. Unfortunately, all of those ways require Saddamis cooperation, and he simply isnit cooperating.

Whitrock, a sophomore architecture major, can be reached at rick_whitrock@hotmail.com.