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 he conventional
wisdom has it that last week's allied attacks on Iraqi air-defense
assets near Baghdad will
complicate
Colin Powell's upcoming foray into the Middle East, his first as
Secretary of State. Actually, these strikes can help reestablish
regional confidence in American leadership provided they are represented
as they should be — namely, as an integral part of a larger,
systematic, and sustained U.S. effort to discredit Saddam Hussein
and assist in the liberation of Iraq from his regime's predations.
To be sure, even if Secretary Powell presents such a program to
his regional interlocutors, he will encounter some resistance from
Iraq's neighbors; they understandably fear reprisals from a vengeful
Saddam and have come to feel little confidence in America's will,
if not its ability, to come to their aid. They may be particularly
skeptical about the Secretary's calls for shoring up the international
economic sanctions against Iraq in light of the desire Mr. Powell
expressed during his confirmation hearings to Senators Chuck Hagel,
Richard Lugar, and others on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
to "participate with you in discussing how to get rid of most of
[the United States' economic sanctions against other countries]."
That said, the best chance of stabilizing — and reversing —
the seriously deteriorating situation vis a vis Saddam — i.e.,
his resuscitated weapons-of-mass-destruction programs, and his regional
ambitions — is to adopt a dramatically different approach to
Bill Clinton's hapless policy of "containing" Saddam Hussein. The
new strategy should be explicitly aimed at ending Saddam's misrule
and the threat it poses to his own long-suffering people and others
beyond his borders.
Fortunately, the senior ranks of the incoming Bush-Cheney administration
are being increasingly populated by individuals who have, in the
past, endorsed such an alternative approach
| “The
new strategy should be explicitly aimed at ending Saddam's
misrule and the threat it poses to his own long-suffering
people and others beyond his borders.” |
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.
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Deputy Secretary of Defense-designate
Paul Wolfowitz, Deputy Secretary of State-designate Richard Armitage,
Under Secretary of State-designate John Bolton, Under Secretary
of Defense-designate Dov Zakheim, and a number of others said to
be under consideration for top posts (including Zalmay Khalilzad,
Jeffrey Gedmin, and Douglas Feith) were among those who, on February
19, 1998, offered a blueprint for liberating Iraq in an Open Letter
to the President.
The following were the elements of the "comprehensive political
and military strategy for bringing down Saddam and his regime" recommended
by these and some 30 other former senior officials and experts:
o "Recognize a provisional government of Iraq based on the principles
and leaders of the Iraqi National Congress (INC) that is representative
of all the peoples of Iraq."
o "Restore and enhance the safe haven in northern Iraq to allow
the provisional government to extend its authority there and establish
a zone in southern Iraq from which Saddam's ground forces would
also be excluded."
o "Lift sanctions in liberated areas. Sanctions are instruments
of war against Saddam's regime, but they should be quickly lifted
on those who have freed themselves from it. Also, the oil resources
and products of the liberated areas should help fund the provisional
government's insurrection and humanitarian relief for the people
of liberated Iraq."
o "Release frozen Iraqi assets — which amount to $1.6 billion
in the United States and Britain alone — to the control of
the provisional government to fund its insurrection. This could
be done gradually and so long as the provisional government continues
to promote a democratic Iraq."
o "Facilitate broadcasts from U.S. transmitters immediately and
establish a Radio Free Iraq."
o "Help expand liberated areas of Iraq by assisting the provisional
government's offensive against Saddam Hussein's regime logistically
and through other means."
o "Remove any vestiges of Saddam's claim to 'legitimacy' by, among
other things, bringing a war crimes indictment against the dictator
and his lieutenants and challenging Saddam's credentials to fill
the Iraqi seat at the United Nations."
o "Launch a systematic air campaign against the pillars of his power
— the Republican Guard divisions which prop him up and the
military infrastructure that sustains him." And:
o "Position U.S. ground force equipment in the region so that, as
a last resort, we have the capacity to protect and assist the anti-Saddam
forces in the northern and southern parts of Iraq."
In their open letter to the President Clinton, the incoming members
of the Bush-Cheney administration and other signatories made it
clear that "It will not be easy — and the course of action
we favor is not without its problems and perils. But we believe
the vital national interests of our country require the United States
to [adopt such a strategy]."
It is a tragedy for the people of Iraq, and a potential nightmare
for the rest of us, that Mr. Clinton failed to act on this sound
advice. We can only hope that Mr. Bush and his team will do so without
any further delay.
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