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Friday, October 18, 2002 |
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News: Blah, blah, blah. U.N. keeps talking about Iraq but it looks like the U.S. is going to do what's got to be done: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43704-2002Oct17.html Comment: Here's what the article says about the latest U.N. resolution on Iraq -- Secretary of State Colin L. Powell declined to discuss the wording but said the United States would maintain complete freedom of action. "Our position is clear," he told reporters in New York last night after meeting with Blix. "We believe one resolution is appropriate, and obviously the council can go off and have other discussions whenever it chooses. "Any resolution that emerges from this will be a resolution that preserves the authority and right of the president of the United States to act in self-defense of the American people and of our neighbors," he said. Powell said that last week's congressional resolution giving the president unlimited authority to use military force in Iraq leaves all of his options open. "If it becomes necessary to apply force, the joint resolution says the president should work with the U.N. to see if everyone is willing to do that," he said. "At the same time, the resolution says the president has the authority to act...whether the United Nations has acted or not." News - The Detroit News has a sad article about how health care in Iraq has collapsed due to sanction and embargo: http://www.detnews.com/2002/nation/0210/18/a03-615793.htm Comment - The News finally gets to the nub of the problem about half way down the article: "The regime has used much of its food-for-oil money to go on a building spree, constructing opulent presidential palaces and enormous mosques bearing Saddam's name. Money spent on these ostentatious projects could have purchased medicine from neighboring Jordan or Syria." The News also deserves a lot of credit for noting that unbiased reporting is almost impossible in Iraq. Because all reporters are accompanied by government officials, no one will speak honestly. When Union General Sherman was devastating Georgia in 1865, he was criticized as a heartless monster for destroying the civilian economy. He replied that there was a simple way to end the destruction - the South had to lay down its arms. Civilians in Iraq are suffering because of Saddam. The suffering will end when Saddam is eliminated. News - Defense Secretary Rumsfeld says he believes North Korea has a small number of nuclear weapons: http://wire.ap.org/?FRONTID=ELECTION&SLUG=US%2dNORTH%2dKOREA Comment - I think it is significant that while other Bush administration officials are dancing around the issue, Rumsfeld comes right out and admits that the North Koreans are probably nuclear armed. So what do we do about it? In a war, North Korea would quickly crumble. But maybe not before they nuked Seoul, South Korea. My hope is that we quickly wipe out Saddam, and give the North Koreans an object lesson is what happens to countries that threaten the U.S. Click here to see current comments and add your own. 11:24:54 AM 
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