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 Burn Baghdad, burn! Why we so urgently need to attack Iraq October 18, 2001 The Iranian Many of us aren't sure why, but most experts would agree, our bombs will be flying over Baghdad sometime within the next few months. Various officials have attempted to satisfy our curiosity with answers that often create even further confusion. Here are a few examples and why they don't make much sense: 1The calamity of the September 11th attacks on our conscience has made it necessary to confront Iraq. Not a single piece of evidence to connect the Butchers of Baghdad with Wahabi Lunatics is presented or found. In fact, Saddam is a secular leader who would most likely crush fundamentalist Islamists within Iraq, given the chance. Baghdad is in possession of weapons of mass destruction. Are we going to attack other countries who posses similar weapons? Let's see, that will include China, Russia, Ukraine, Pakistan, Israel, India to name a few. Aside from one dictator being our current friend and the other an ex-friend, is there a big difference between Parvez Musharaf or Saddam Hussein controlling such weapons? Iraqi regime has ignored various UN resolutions. Another case of double standards or will we also enforce the resolutions ignored by other countries in the region? By that account maybe our next target should be Israel who has continuously ignored multiple UN resolutions to evacuate the occupied territories. UN inspectors have only restricted access to certain areas. Baghdad is now offering full access, do we still bomb or let them try to accomplish their task without a bloodshed? Saddam is a murderous tyrant and needs to be replaced. True but again, why are we being so picky? He certainly isn't the only one out there and many of the other ones, just as he once was, are our close allies and we even call them our "partners in fighting terrorism". Will we go after those also? Other arguments have and most certainly will be presented. Yet most of us look for a more solid justification. Here's one argument as to why we will be bombing Baghdad: The U.S. government decided long ago that a military presence in the Middle East is not only desirable but has become a necessity. The Volatile nature of the region's political landscape necessitates rapid response troop deployment to protect American interests. These interests include open access to the region's natural resources such as oil and natural gas, protection for local friendly government, and confronting any threats to the security of the state of Israel. Defending Israel has become even a larger priority since President W. Bush's fundamental Christian team took over the White House. This ultra conservative movement, using the literal Messianic prophecies of the old testament believes in signs pointing to "The Resurrection of Christ." A major requirement of this resurrection is what they described as "The Miracle of Israel" and therefore it's survival is vital. In short, in their view, if there's no Israel, there is no second coming of the Christ. This position is best articulated by Reverend Jerry Falwell and others within the "Christian Zionist" movement. Falwell who is not unfamiliar with controversy and in the past has managed to offend every other group outside his close circle of friends, has gone even further in declaring war on Islam as part of his current campaign. Most recently he has called Islam's prophet a "terrorist" and defended another Southern Baptist preacher, the Rev. Jerry Vines, when he referred to Mohammad as a "demon possessed pedophile"  This is the same Jerry Falwell who blamed "the
abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians" along with the
ACLU and others, for the September 11th attacks stating that they had "helped
this happen". While he has retracted both remarks, it is also Falwell who organized
churches to lobby Israeli government against returning any territory to Palestinians.
But to understand the position of the "Christian Right" on this topic, it is best to point out that Falwell has publicly stated in the past that "to stand against Israel is to stand against God". (1) With such a divine mission at hand, it is not surprising that our President (and Falwell's friend) is so eager to deploy our troops to the region. American military presence in the Arabian peninsula, namely in Saudi Arabia has been a disaster over the past decade. Existence of our troops in the "holy land" of most Muslims, has come at a tremendous political and tactical cost. Bin Laden and his Wahabi company use it as one of their primary arguments for attacking the U.S. Furthermore, our long time ally, the al-Saud family has shown signs that it is no longer in complete harmony with American foreign policy initiatives. Most recently, the Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal sided with Tehran in opposing military action against Iraq. In short, our troops need to find a new home fast. A look at the search for this new home may shed some light on the urgency of attacking Iraq. A perfect home for our long term presence in the region will have enough space to accommodate a large military presence, has no long term history of hostility towards Americans, can tolerate a western-friendly semi-secular ruling regime, is within striking distance of most "troubled" countries of the region to act as an umbrella of protection for Israel, and preferably has ports on the Persian Gulf to play host to the large American fleet.  Iraq can deliver on all these points, plus it is home
to the second largest oil reserves in the world, is run by an unpopular tyrant that
can justify an invasion, and has little support amongst other neighboring countries.
Look for an all out invasion of Iraq, implementation of a Hamid Karzai style government with Kurdish and Shi'ite participation in the cabinet and a long term presence of American military in Iraq, complete with bases and ports for many years to come, as is the case with the Philippines, South Korea, and Western Europe. Another "Oil War" is on its way and my thoughts are with all the innocent lives that will be sacrificed on both sides. Meanwhile, I'll be searching the old and new testaments for clues to our future political and military decisions. (1) Sara Diamond, SPIRITUAL WARFARE, Southend Press, Boston, Ma., 1989, pg. 202
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