Bush knows Hussein’s goal is power, not peace
By Daily Bruin Staff
Feb. 26, 2001 9:00 p.m.
 Ben Shapiro Shapiro is a first-year
philosophy student bringing reason to the masses. E-mail him at
[email protected].
It’s about time. After George Bush failed to finish the
job, maybe his son will finally be able to. After almost a decade
of Saddam Hussein’s cat-and-mouse games of “Hide the
Nuclear Arms,” perhaps the game can come to a close. And
after decades of illusion, maybe the world can finally come to
grips with the fact that Hussein and others like him in the Arab
world are not interested in any kind of peace ““ all they want
is to destroy the West.
On Feb. 16 at approximately 9:15 a.m. PST, President George W.
Bush OKed an airstrike on Iraqi air defenses near Baghdad and
outside the no-fly zone to retaliate for increasing anti-aircraft
firing at American airplanes.
Bush said something that no American president had said for a
decade ““ we’re actually going to get tough. Bush is not
talking “fake” tough, as in occasional bombings of
remote Iraqi sites usually in order to deflect American attention
from burgeoning scandals in Washington. Bush is not talking
“compassionate” tough as in Food-for-Oil programs which
put money straight into Hussein’s pocket.
Bush is talking “tough” tough, as in America will do
whatever it takes to seize the ability to manufacture weapons of
mass destruction away from Iraq. This is exactly what is called for
because Hussein does not understand deals. He is not interested in
politics; he only understands strength. He has consistently shown
that he views anyone who offers concessions as weak. And the world
cannot afford for Saddam to think that Western powers are weak,
because he will go right for the jugular.
 Illustration by ZACH LOPEZ/Daily Bruin The problem is
that several countries are defecting. Surprise, surprise. The major
global players defecting are Russia, China and France, which have
all come out against the bombings. A global East-West All-Star
game, is being set up, in which there is no referee. These major
countries have no ideological reason to move over to
Hussein’s side.
Hussein has offered a $14,000 reward for any surface-to-air
missile operator to shoot down a U.S. plane. He has been
“pouring money into reconstructing his dated (but deadly)
“˜Tall King’ and “˜Volex’ radars and linking
them together with new underground fiberoptic cables”
(“World Bush Vs. Saddam: The Sequel,” Time.com).
The only reasons are practical and political ““ these
countries don’t want to lose Iraqi oil. China and Russia are
setting themselves up to topple the United States as the dominant
world power. France can be trusted to take the leftist side in any
given situation ““ they continue to maintain the
“Vichy” mentality.
The Arab nations, meanwhile, are mobilizing in support of
Hussein. Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa said the raid was
“a serious negative stop that we cannot accept, nor
understand its reasons, which run counter to Iraq’s safety
and sovereignty.”
In Amman, the capital of Jordan, more than 200 activists
demonstrated on Feb. 17, chanting “Long live Saddam.”
On Feb. 16, Palestinians protested in Ramallah, located in the West
Bank of Israel, shouting “Death to America,” and
“Long live Iraq,” while waving Iraqi flags and pictures
of Hussein (“Arabs Condemn U.S. Attack on Iraq,” The
Associated Press).
The Iraqis blame the airstrike on Israel. It is common knowledge
that when Arab nations shoot at American airplanes, it is merely
because of the Palestinian Conflict. When American and British
forces retaliate, this must also be because of the “Zionist
entity.” Iraq has pledged 21 new military divisions of
volunteers to fight on behalf of the PLO.
This claim is, of course, absolutely ridiculous. While the world
swallows this enormous fiction that all Arab troubles center on the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the facts remain that Arab countries
are constantly embroiled in turmoil of their own. The Egyptian
invasion of Yemen carried with it 250,000 dead, the Algerian civil
war 1 million dead, the Sudanese civil war 500,000 dead, and the
list goes on.
The Persian Gulf War unfolded as one armed Arab state ran
roughshod over its unarmed neighbor. As Saddam fired scud missiles
at Israel during the conflict, he missed and hit Palestinian
villages more than once. According to former Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu in his book “A Durable Peace”,
“When Saddam was asked how he could possibly justify such
callous disregard for the very people whose champion he was
supposed to be, he replied that he did not concern himself
“˜with sorting beans.'”
The idea that all Arab conflicts are based on broad protest
against Israeli existence is a lie. In the words of the Kuwaiti
ambassador in Washington, “If anyone thinks that Saddam
Hussein is caring for the interests of the Palestinian people or
the Lebanese by invading and killing their brothers in Kuwait, (he)
is completely mistaken” (Sheikh Saud Nassir al-Sabah, in
Anti-Defamation League Pamphlet “The Myth of Linkage,”
Nov. 5, 1990).
The goal of Saddam Hussein and others like him in the Arab world
cannot be denied. It is, plainly and simply, the demolition of the
West and the spread of “the word of Allah.” Sayyid
Qutb, a leading Islamic theoretician, wrote before his execution in
1966, “[Jihad] is solely geared to protect the religion of
all and his Law and to save the Realm of Islam and no other
territory … Any land that combats the faith, hampers Moslems from
practicing their religion, or does not apply Islamic Law, becomes
ipso facto part of the Realm of War.”
It is comforting to know that finally America has a president
willing to fight a tyrannical dictator and nations bent on war.
When committing to a certain course of action, a country must know
its opponent. To negotiate with those who are intent on violence is
a recipe for disaster. Bush knows Hussein, and he knows that
Hussein is not interested in compromise. Most of all, Bush realizes
that when dealing with Hussein, turning the other cheek is not a
viable strategy.
