Is U.S. prepared for war?
President Bush set the stage for a showdown when he addressed the United Nations General Assembly. Iraq must allow the return of U.N. weapons inspectors, surrender weapons of mass destruction and the missiles to deliver them, or else. Bush, in strongly pleading his case before the U.N., implied that the U.S. wants the support of its allies but, if necessary, is willing to go it alone against Saddam Hussein. The U.N. must decide whether it will allow Iraq to thumb its nose as it has at a series of U.N. resolutions that have gone ignored.
Sanctions imposed on Iraq after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait cannot be lifted until U.N. inspectors certify that its weapons of mass destruction have been destroyed. Inspectors left the country four years ago without making that certification and in advance of U.S. and British airstrikes designed to force Iraq to cooperate with the inspections program.
Since then, Iraq has refused to allow inspectors to return and there is no hard, convincing proof that Iraq is stockpiling weapons of mass destruction or building nuclear bombs. Iraq claims it’s not; others, including Bush, claim it is and that it is imperative to destroy these weapons before Iraq strikes.
Bush stops just short of declaring war but the message is clear: he is willing to take America into war to bring stability and peace to the Mid East. Therein lies the catch, without U.N. support that goal cannot be reached.
The next few weeks, as countries debate the Bush ultimatum and the U.N. prepares for a vote, the president must also listen to Americans. Is this a war we want to start?