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War, Yes or No
By
Bob Orrick
Who, among you, is prepared to sacrifice a son or daughter - grandson or granddaughter - to satisfy another's desire to wage war?
Currently, the world waits anxiously to determine whether or not the United Nations has the backbone to back up its demands that Iraq allow weapons inspectors into the country to determine once and for all whether Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction. The UN, very much a toothless tiger, has waffled and backslid on several previous 'demands' put to Hussein to open up Iraq to inspectors.
In a move that is seen by some Westerners as nothing more than another of Saddam Hussein's use of human beings to satisfy his political purposes, the Iraqi president "reached out to his people" and issued a decree that emptied the country's jails of "everyone from pickpockets to political prisoners." When freed, the released prisoners chanted "We sacrifice our blood and souls for Saddam."
It seems this was Saddam's thanks to his people for 're-electing' him president. As the only candidate, his 're-election' was a foregone conclusion.
Interestingly, not all prisoners were released. The news item noted that "… the amnesty applied to every prisoner except those convicted of spying for the U.S. or Israel."
U.S. officials dismissed the move as a ploy to rally domestic and international support; and it might just work.
With much of the UN opposed to the United States and other Western countries, Saddam Hussein's move might just be enough to convince the UN wafflers that Iraq is a democracy and that it has complied with various UN resolutions to allow weapon inspectors freedom of access and that Saddam is really a kindly, people-loving president who wishes to harm no one. It might also just be enough to convince the wafflers that the United States' position - poised to strike Iraq and launch an all-out war - is the real bogeyman. Time will tell.
Some commentators and analysts see the current Iraqi situation as being similar to the mid-1930s and Hitler. Then, Hitler did pretty well what he wanted while the League of Nations twiddled its thumbs and did nothing to stop the Nazi and his conquest of neighbouring countries. Today, Saddam Hussein thumbs his nose at the United Nations and the UN, with its preponderance of anti-American countries, does nothing of substance to rein in Hussein.
It should be noted that the make-up of the UN today is a bit different from what it was when Bush Senior managed to cobble together a coalition of disparate countries to act as a UN Force to throw Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait. Bush Junior might not have the same success because the UN does not mandate his aim, at least not at the time of this writing. Moreover, George W. Bush appears to be softening his war-like stance. That said, however, the political cartoon in the Monday, October 21 edition of the Vancouver Sun - also carried in the Ottawa Citizen - shows a caricature of the U.S. president strumming a guitar and singing "All I am saying is … Give war a chance."
Should war be given a chance? Or, should mediation through the United Nations be given a chance?
If the United States goes to war against Iraq, should Canada be involved? A quote from the Introduction to A Military History of Canada, by Desmond Morton is appropriate: "The wars of the twentieth century may have left Canada's own frontiers intact but there is little within the country that remained untouched. War compelled Canadians to choose between the Empire and independence, and, in due course, it forced Canada into a new and more troubled dependence on the United States."
Bob Orrick is a private tutor of English grammar, literature, poetry and Canadian history to off-shore youngsters. His pupils hail from such places as Taiwan, China, Japan, Hong Kong, Korea and Venezuela. He was previously in international marketing, was a ministerial assistant to a provincial cabinet minister, spent a few years as a reporter then editor of a community newspaper and enjoyed a career in the Royal Canadian Navy.
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