A rchive Date
[ 12-04-2003 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Iraq ]
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[http://www.canoe.ca/Columnists/scarth.html
We peaceniks told you so, too
By TODD SCARTH -- Winnipeg Sun
April 12, 2003
Ever since the statue of Saddam was torn down by American heavy equipment, the pro-war types have been falling over themselves to say "We told you so!"
This is a level of debate that would not be out of place in your average nursery school. It is also a pantful. What, exactly, were we told before the war? That the most powerful military force in the history of the world would be able to crush Iraq's army?
Yes, pro-war types said that. So did those opposed to the war. The fight was enough of a mismatch a decade ago. After losing the first Gulf War, going through a decade of sanctions and weapons inspections, Iraq's army was even more overwhelmed. Was there even a single person on the planet who genuinely doubted the outcome of the war?
Saying "I told you so" about that is a little like taking credit for predicting the sunrise. (Or predicting the collapse of the Ottawa Senators in the playoffs, but that's another story.)
What else were we told before the war? That Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator whose fall would be welcomed? True enough. But again, no one disputed that. There are some other things I remember being told before the war. Things that war-boosters seem to have forgotten.
Like, for example, George W.'s claim that Iraq's army posed an immediate threat to neighbouring countries. Not quite, eh? There was also Bush's endless claim that, beyond any reasonable doubt, Iraq had tons of chemical and biological weapons. It's funny how now no one is taking credit for having said THAT before the war started. Iraq, as it turns out, apparently didn't even have prohibited missiles, or at least none that could be used.
As has now been widely reported, it seems the only time U.S.-U.K. troops needed to wear their chemical warfare suits was when recovering a body from a friendly fire incident to protect themselves from the radiation given off by U.S. depleted uranium ordnance. You may remember hearing about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. They were, after all, the official explanation for the war, and their absence is embarrassing for Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
What else were we told before the war?
After U.S. officials gave up on trying to sell the bogus line that Iraq was positively bristling with chemical, biological and possibly even nuclear weapons, they tried to say that it was essential to bomb Iraq back to the Stone Age because of that country's connection to al-Qaida. That claim was a howler to begin with. Now I guess we're expected to just forget all about it.
I think that we SHOULD think about what those who were in favour of dropping deadly cluster bombs on Iraqi civilians had to say before the war started. Because they're still talking. Donald Rumsfeld, for example, has cooked up some story about how Iraq must have shipped all its weapons of mass destruction to Syria.
Of course! No wonder they can't be found! Is this also a good excuse to go over Syria next? Why, I guess it is! What a clever man that Rumsfeld is.
But that was all before the statues started to fall. It's a different world now, right?
Well, not really. That same night U.S. soldiers and many Iraqi civilians were killed. The next day a suicide bomber killed U.S. marines and wounded four more close to where the now-famous statue had stood.
British television filmed as a six-year-old girl was shot in the head by U.S. troops. Later two children were shot dead at a checkpoint.
Listen: a year or two years or maybe only a couple of months from now, the U.S. will come up with trumped-up excuses to bomb the hell out of some other country, and thousands of innocent civilians will die in the name of Yankee arrogance and greed.
I hope that I won't be able to say I told you so.
Todd Scarth is a Sun columnist and director of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives-Manitoba. He can be reached by e-mail at todd@policyalternatives.ca. Letters to the editor should be sent to editor@wpgsun.com.
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
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