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Noam Chomsky: The case against US adventurism in Iraq
(Noam Chomsky, Daily Times, March 19, 2003)
The most powerful state in history has proclaimed that it intends to control the world by force, the dimension in which it reigns supreme. . . . President Bush and his cohorts evidently believe that the means of violence in their hands are so extraordinary that they can dismiss anyone who stands in their way. . . . The consequences could be catastrophic in Iraq and around the world. The United States may reap a whirlwind of terrorist retaliation and step up the possibility of nuclear Armageddon. . . . Even before the administration began beating the war drums against Iraq, there were plenty of warnings that US adventurism would lead to proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, as well as terror, for deterrence or revenge. . . . There is good reason to believe that the war with Iraq is intended, in part, to demonstrate what lies ahead when the empire decides to strike a blow though “war” is hardly the proper term, given the gross mismatch of forces. . . . Saddam remains a terrible threat to those within his reach. Today, his reach does not extend beyond his own domains, though it is likely that US aggression could inspire a new generation of terrorists bent on revenge, and might induce Iraq to carry out terrorist actions suspected to be already in place. . . . Studies by respected medical organizations estimate that the death toll could rise to the hundreds of thousands. Confidential UN documents warn that a war could trigger a “humanitarian emergency of exceptional scale” including the possibility that 30 percent of Iraqi children could die from malnutrition. . . . The potential disasters are among the many reasons why decent human beings do not contemplate the threat or use of violence, whether in personal life or international affairs; unless reasons have been offered that have overwhelming force. And surely nothing remotely like that justification has come forward.

posted by LoZo 4:21 PM