Attacking Iraq: Myth and Reality

In the United States there is currently a debate over the methods and extent of military action to be taken against the Iraqi regime. This debate is constrained very narrowly, and all sides accept certain presuppositions which are not discussed. Both sides agree that Hussein is a dangerous menace developing weapons of mass destruction and the United States plans to restore democracy, or at least a more moderate leadership, in order to enhance stability and protect America and her allies from attack.

The problem is that virtually every claim about Iraq made by the Bush administration and its compliant "opposition" is an outright lie.




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Weapons of Mass Destruction
Bush's story: Saddam Hussein was never disarmed. "The Iraqi regime has plotted to develop anthrax, and nerve gas, and nuclear weapons for over a decade...This is a regime that agreed to international inspections -- then kicked out the inspectors. This is a regime that has something to hide from the civilized world...By seeking weapons of mass destruction, [Iraq] poses a grave and growing danger."

Reality: By 1997 the inspectors tasked with destroying Iraq's nuclear program had demolished more than 50,000 square metres of laboratory space and 1,900 pieces of equipment. They reported that "There are no indications that there remains in Iraq any physical capability for the production of amounts of weapon-usable nuclear material of any practical significance." [IAEA]

By 1996, over 480,000 litres of live chemical weapons agent, 28,000 chemical munitions and approximately 1.8 million litres, and over 1 million kilograms of some 45 different precursor chemicals and a variety of production equipment had been destroyed by UNSCOM inspectors. [UNSCOM]

According to the former head of the UNSCOM inspection team, a Marine Lieutenant Colonel and registered Republican, by 1998 "we could account for 90 percent to 95 percent of Iraq's proscribed weaponry, versus the 100 percent required by the Security Council". Ritter believes the remaining 5 to 10 percent were destroyed by Iraq and their existence denied. In any case, he says, the chemical and biological agents in question would have been rendered useless by natural decay by now. [RealAudio]

The Bush regime has not presented evidence regarding Iraq's weapons capabilities, either to the UN or, according to a TIME article, to its own Congress. [TIME]

United Nations Action on Iraq

Bush's Story: The UN has failed to deal with Iraq, allowing it to defy the world without punishment. It needs to "grow some backbone", and "will either be able to function as a peacekeeping body as we head into the 21st century, or it will be irrelevant, and that's what we are about to find out."

Reality: United Nations sanctions on Iraq, now in their twelfth year, have been absolutely crushing to the country. Mortality rates in the country skyrocketed during the 1990s, accounting for a half a million more deaths than would be otherwise expected among children under 5. The Executive Director of UNICEF said that "Even if not all suffering in Iraq can be imputed to external factors, especially sanctions, the Iraqi people would not be undergoing such deprivations in the absence of the prolonged measures imposed by the Security Council and the effects of war." [UNICEF]

Dennis Halliday, former U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, resigned after thirteen months, calling the sanctions "genocide". He rejects the argument that the oil-for-food program could care for the Iraqi people, pointing out that the approximate amount provided amounts to less than ten dollars a month per person. He rejects the claim that Hussein is deliberately withholding aid, pointing out that before the war his Ba'ath party provided the best health care in the Arab world. His succsessor Hans van Spoeneck resigned for similar reasons.

Far from being "spineless", UN -- really US -- policy towards Iraq has been indescribably harsh and will be remembered, if there is ever an honest accounting, as one of the great atrocities of history.