“War is an Admission of Failure”

While threatening to veto a future UN Resolution authorizing the use of force to make Iraq comply with past UN Resolutions, French President Chirac said, “War is an admission of failure.” He meant by this to encourage additional diplomatic measures or additional time for current diplomatic measures to be successful. But we – the so-called “civilized world” – have failed, and it is worth cataloging at least some of our mistakes in the hope that we will stop making them.

While threatening to veto a future UN Resolution authorizing the use of force to make Iraq comply with past UN Resolutions, French President Chirac said, “War is an admission of failure.” He meant by this to encourage additional diplomatic measures or additional time for current diplomatic measures to be successful. But we – the so-called “civilized world” – have failed, and it is worth cataloging at least some of our mistakes in the hope that we will stop making them.

The first is our failure to impress upon Saddam (and Mr. Chirac and Mr. Schroeder) that the 1991 Gulf War never ended. The cease-fire that stopped the shooting was predicated on Saddam’s fulfillment of the demands of the UN. From our failure come others.

We failed to make Iraq meet UN Resolutions regarding missiles and non-conventional weaponry. In 1998, UNSCOM estimated that 4,000 tons of CW precursors were not accounted for; nor were 600 tons of VX precursors – enough to make 200 tons of VX, enough to wipe out the world. Over 31,000 CW munitions were not accounted for; nor 17 tons of growth media for biological agents – enough to produce more than three times the amount of anthrax Iraq admitted that it had. We failed to make them turn it over.

We failed to enforce the mandate of the latest (and misnamed) UN inspection team – to receive evidence from Iraq that all of that weaponry and technology had been destroyed. We permitted the mission to be turned into an expedition that may become endless — because to end it would be to admit that it – and we – failed.

We failed to make Iraq meet the UN demand to respect the “no fly zones” that attempt to protect the Kurds, the southern Marsh Arabs and others. A recent Human Rights Watch (not our favorite source) paper documents how the bombardment of villages, widespread arbitrary arrests, torture, “disappearances,” summary executions, and forced displacement have reduced the Marsh Arabs from more than 250,000 to as few as 40,000. “Large-scale government drainage projects have virtually wiped out the Marsh Arab economy and, along with severe repression, forced the displacement of at least 100,000 of the Marsh Arabs inside Iraq. More than 40,000 others fled as refugees to Iran.”

We failed to make Iraq meet UN demands to comply with restrictions imposed on the UN Oil for Peace funds and failed to keep Saddam from using money meant to purchase food and medicine for the Iraqi people from being spent on weapons and palaces and $25,000 payments to Palestinian terrorists.

The price of our failures is continuing devastation by Saddam, and increasing threats to those not yet within his reach. Contrary to Mr. Chirac, war will not be caused by our diplomatic failures. The war has already begun, caused by Saddam’s blatant contempt for the “civilized world” and its demands.

All we can do now is consider how to fight it and how to end it.