| World Affairs Council kicks off series
By Dietrich Bouma
Staff Writer
The World Affairs Council of Western Michigan kicked off its lecture series Wednesday night at the Calvin Chapel. Neal Conan, an award-winning journalist and host of “Talk of the Nation” on National Public Radio, presented his answer to the question, “Does the United States go it alone in Iraq or wait until other countries join in support?”
Conan prefaced his talk by explaining the painfulness of his topic, saying that war with Iraq was virtually inevitable. He predicted that war with Iraq would be declared within the next few weeks. Next, he told a story of his firsthand experience with the infamous “highway of death” in Iraq.
“War is a human tragedy of death and wasted materials,” Conan said. He said if there is no way around war, at least with such mass destruction, people will not become too fond of it.
Conan’s story set the tone for the rest of his presentation, as he thoroughly expounded the United States’ war involvement in the recent past. He strongly emphasized that the United States is an economic and military powerhouse. He used the example of the United States’ wise foresight in supplying its troops with comfort items in order to sustain the troops over long periods of traveling time. He added, “The third largest Air Force in the World was the U.S. Navy.” Throughout the presentation, Conan repeatedly emphasized the power of the U.S. military and how well-equipped the nation is for war.
Conan hit upon the United States’ roles in all of the wars after World War II, all of which, he noted, were fought outside the framework of the United Nations. Referring to Vietnam, Bosnia, Korea, Kosovo and Afghanistan, Conan showed the progression of the United States distancing itself from the countries of the West, until finally, it stood alone as the sole country fighting wars for justice overseas. Conan’s first powerful point was that the United States is in a category by itself, as a country with the ability to mingle in the affairs of other countries, whereas Western Europe is now so contained that it can only deal with affairs within Western Europe.
Conan concluded that the United States needs no help from Western Europe in its fight against Iraq, except to help “clean up after the U.S. military.” He referred to the United States’ poorly executed military involvement in Kosovo, where at one time thirty-six military generals were talking strategy over speakerphone together. However, at this point, the United States can execute its “quick and clean” strategy even with poor military communications. The United States escaped Kosovo with no soldier or NATO member killed. Only one plane was shot down, and the pilot of that plane ejected to safety.
Conan’s case by case analysis of U.S. involvement in wars established that the United States needed only to have allies as a means of helping to “clean up” after the war, as they did in Afghanistan. They were only needed to restructure the government and reestablish communities and cities lost to the destruction of war. He explained that the war with Iraq should be no different.
Conan then gave the audience an extra dose of information regarding Iraq by offering a glimpse into the mind of the president and other politicians. He first explained that the United States want another “quick, easy victory” which brings out the hidden biological and chemical weapons and also allows the United States to use Iraq as a model for a positive democratic restructuring of Arab nations.
Next, he outlined the problems of attacking. The first is that biological and chemical weapons will likely be used. The second is that Iraqi citizens can be killed as a result of scattered bombs on cities. The third problem is that it could cause Pakistan, who is already known to have nuclear weapons, to boil over and go to drastic measures as a result.
Conan contrasted this with reasons for going to war. He said that inspections would carry on forever and that Saddam would still be in power with inspections eventually tailing off. Also, it would cast a poor shadow on the U.S. government, which has already sent over troops to the countries neighboring Iraq, and would reaffirm that Iraq does in fact have weapons.
Conan ended his message saying that Iraq can effectively be contained by European and U.S. military pressure without fighting. The only problem that may arise is that biological and chemical weapons could leak out of Iraq to terrorist groups.
|
