Last week, National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley admitted that our pre-war intelligence about Iraq’s possession of weapons of mass destruction was wrong: “There was collective intelligence judgment – Turns out we were wrong.” Just last month, in a motivational speech, President Bush declared, “(Americans) are determined to deny weapons of mass destruction, including chemical and nuclear weapons, as well as long-range ballistic missiles used to outlaw regimes.”
Hey Mr. Bush, aren’t we in the process of outlawing a regime of “terrorists” in Iraq and shouldn’t we also follow your doctrine of not using weapons of mass destruction against them? Or did you mean that everyone except for the all-mighty powerful Americans shouldn’t have them?
Don’t get me wrong, I agree with the president when he says that we need to stop the terrorists. I just don’t think it’s ethical or fair for the rest of the world to have to watch America use the exact same weapons that we are attempting to get rid of. What? Don’t believe me? On Tuesday, Pentagon spokesman Lt. Barry Venable said that toxic, “white phosphorous was used in Fallujah as an incendiary weapon against enemy combatants.” Veterans of Fallujah told reporters that “phosphorous proved to be an effective munition – We fired ‘shake and bake’ missions at the insurgents using white phosphorous to flush them out and high explosives to take them out.”
I ask you, what kind of a message is the president trying to send out when he is using real weapons of mass destruction to get rid of the imaginary ones that never existed?
Gautam R. Mehta
Biochemistry junior