America and its allies must resolve three important enigmas before clobbering Iraq.
Those issues are the safety of United Nations weapons inspectors, protection of Iraq’s oil fields and preventing Saddam Hussein from winning political asylum in another rogue nation.
1--Remember those horrific days leading up to the Gulf War? Remember Saddam surrounding himself with hostages grabbed from international enclaves around Baghdad?
Today’s U.N. inspectors could easily be seized and held as bargaining chips when the new conflict escalates.
2--Remember Saddam’s minions torching Kuwait’s oil fields before fleeing from Allied forces?
Destruction of Iraq’s oil fields would cause a worldwide petroleum crisis and seriously impede Allied reconstruction of that country.
3--Saddam has stolen and squirreled away billions of dollars for his personal use.
If Saddam reaches sanctuary elsewhere, his wealth will certainly be used to pay for protection, to develop or buy more weapons of mass destruction and to underwrite more terrorist attacks against Allied nations. (17 NOVEMBER 2002)
