War With Iraq: Sensible Reality vs. Political Bureaucracy
KDL

Today the Nation is on the verge of war with Iraq. Being here at WAC it seems we are far away from the decisions being made at the U.N. and the troops in the Gulf preparing for war. Talking with students and teachers alike, I get the general perception that many people do not understand what it means to go to war. Someone's child, father, sister goes off to war to be placed in harm's way on the other side of the world. These people were trained for one reason: to protect the United States of America. There are specially equipped units sent in to work in wartime conditions to kill the enemy. This is not some bureaucratic political game; these are American at stake. In order to rationalize and cover up the reality of war, the government has done a meticulous job of censoring brutal footage. When a Pentagon official was asked about why particular footage from the Gulf War was censored his response was "If we let people see that kind of thing, there would never again be any war."

The government has scurried to cover up war's brutality in order to fulfill a specialized agenda. After the 9/11 attacks, we saw the influx of American ignorance towards the Middle East. The American people as a collective nation backed Bush to seek vengeance upon those who so wrongly attacked us. This was a one-way ticket for Bush to focus his efforts towards war and eventually towards Iraq. Where did all the news generated from the beginning of this war on terror go? The American people do not seem to be aware that right now we are at war; rather the world is focused on the threat of another conflict.

America, wake up! We are already at war! Soldiers around the world are on alert for terrorists that are a threat to our national security. Our brethren are constantly put into harms way, and they will still be there tomorrow. Why is President Bush even considering another war when America and its allies are not winning the current war on terror? In a current CBS public opinion poll, Americans were asked "Who do you think is currently winning the war against terrorism: the U.S. and its allies, the terrorists or neither?" Forty-four percent of Americans think neither side is winning, while thirty-two percent think America and its allies are. The truth of the matter is that causalities are adding up; soldiers are becoming statistics everyday. The question is, how many statistics are going to deter Bush from starting another war? The United States should stop or win the war on terror before even thinking about fighting another.

The Bush administration along with the media is fueling this massive effort to invoke fear into the U.S. public. This fear is make-believe, sensationalized propaganda; the media presents Saddam Hussein as a threat to our immediate security. Yet again, the Government has no solid evidence that he is a threat to our freedom. Saddam has only been a threat to its immediate neighbors and his own people. Primary examples are the Gulf War in which Saddam used his army to invade Kuwait and the weapons tests on his own people.

As of now Saddam does not possess the power to physically attack the United States and therefore is not an immediate threat to national security. Yet Bush seems so hell-bent on war that he started up the war machine without even asking for the key. Despite political support from Australia and Great Britain, the general world population is strongly opposed to war with Iraq. The U.S. is sending thousands of troops, arms, and equipment over to Iraq when there is no sign that the U.N. will support action. A recent Reuters report stated that "[President Bush's] bid to disarm Iraq by force faces coordinated opposition from France, Germany and Russia." The United States has a responsibility to cooperate with other nations in order to assess what needs to be done in Iraq. Regardless of what the Bush administration's opinion is, it is the world that needs to deal equally with the consequences of the aftermath.