so today’s the big day…when the un arms inspectors give their report on whether iraq is in violation of the un mandate to disarm, or whether they’re not in violation of said mandate.
if i were a gambling man (like kenny rogers, famous for his roasted chickens) i would bet that the u.s and it’s allies will see the report as a justification for war and that france and germany and russia will see it as a justification for further inspections.
but who knows? maybe the arms inspector will provide the ‘smoking gun’ that the u.s is looking for, or maybe they’ll provide concrete evidence that the iraqi’s have been fully complying. but probably neither.
and then the big questions will be: when does the war begin?
and how long will it last?
and will there be any sort of iraqi or terrorist retaliation?
and where would any terrorist attacks take place?
i guess that we can all hope that if there is a war (and all signs seem to be pointing to the fact that there will, in fact, be a war) that it will be as brief and as bloodless as possible. maybe someone in the iraqi military will see the futility in wasting lives and resources trying to stand up to the american military, and will in turn surrender before a shot is fired.
that would seem to be the sensible and compassionate thing to do. because any iraqi resistance in the face of the american war machine will most likely be an exercise in bloody futility, at least based on any sort of objective assessment of the american militaries current capabilities as opposed to the iraqi militaries current capabilities. as lots and lots of pundits have reported, america has spent the years since the gulf war (which iraq lost pretty quickly) building the most formidable, high-tech military in the history of human civilization. and iraq has spent the years since the gulf war with barely enough money to keep its people from starving to death, let alone fund a high-tech, formidable military. which is why i hope that someone in the iraqi military will have the compassionate sense to not needlessly waste the lives of iraqi soldiers and civilians in fighting a war that they have no chance of winning.
let’s see what happens and let’s hope for the best, especially for the people on all sides who might be put in harms way.
moby
