February 1, 2003
Carter Says Bush Hasn't Made the Case for War
According to a Reuters release at Rense.com, Jimmy Carter said, "Our government has not made a case for a pre-emptive military strike against Iraq, either at home or in Europe. It is sobering to realize how much doubt and consternation has been raised about our motives for war in the absence of convincing proof of a genuine threat from Iraq."Meanwhile Bush is alleging the opposite, and claiming the authority of the United States as invested in his person. According to The San Diego Tribune, Bush said, "Any attempt to drag this process out for months will be resisted by the United States." In fact, if polls have any accuracy, most of the United States does not want a war with or without the UN backing now.
Bush talks about "disarming Saddam," which sounds great. It's a great Western movie scenario, and that association is intentional. "Hands up, Saddam! Drop that weapon and reach for the sky or you'll be meetin' your maker before you draw another breath!" The real plan, to bomb and strafe a country mercilessly, is not so nice. (See CBS News, about the Pentagon's plans to induce "shock and awe," by bombing Baghdad with 300 Cruise missiles a day, a destructive force comparable to nuclear war.)
Talk about evil! When I think about the degree of inhumanity of these war plans, of how easily the regime plans to throw away the lives of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and bulldoze American GIs into mass graves to further its ambitions, I remember a statement of Jim Marrs: "Are they even human?"
Here's an excerpt from Jimmy Carter's statement that Bush hasn't made the case for war: With overwhelming military strength now deployed against him and with intense monitoring from space surveillance and the U.N. inspection team on the ground, any belligerent move by Saddam against a neighbor would be suicidal. An effort to produce or deploy chemical or biological weapons or to make the slightest move toward a nuclear explosive would be inconceivable. If Iraq does possess such concealed weapons, as is quite likely, Saddam would use them only in the most extreme circumstances, in the face of an invasion of Iraq, when all hope of avoiding the destruction of his regime is lost.
In Washington, there is no longer any mention of Osama bin Laden, and the concentration of public statements on his international terrorist network is mostly limited to still-unproven allegations about its connection with Iraq. The worldwide commitment and top priority of fighting terrorism that was generated after September 11th has been attenuated as Iraq has become the preeminent obsession of political leaders and the general public.