World Needs Strong Spine for Dealing With Iraq's Saddam

Every time U.S. officials threaten to take military action against Iraq, the Chapel Hill Auxiliary of Saddam Hussein's elite Republican Guard ventures out to Franklin Street to pin up posters and protest in defense of their noble icon.

The catalyst for this week's pro-Iraq demonstrations was a speech by President Bush urging the United Nations to take action against Iraq for violating U.N. Security Council resolutions on 16 different occasions since the end of the Gulf War.

The U.N. resolutions Iraq has violated stem from Saddam's failure to dismantle weapons of mass destruction and end human rights abuses against his own citizens. The U.N. Commission on Human Rights has even cited Iraq for "all-pervasive" repression of its citizens and numerous other human rights violations yet has done virtually nothing about it.

Following Bush's speech, some of the previously most ardent opponents of U.S. military action in Iraq, such as French Prime Minister Jacques Chirac, agreed with Bush that military action will be necessary if Saddam does not allow U.N. weapons inspectors back into Iraq.

During a Saturday meeting with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Bush toughened his stance on U.N. members still reluctant to force Iraq to comply with U.N resolutions by threatening military action. He called upon world leaders to "get some backbone" when dealing with Saddam.

Bush is right. Now is the time for the United Nations to grow a spine and move beyond simple platitudes and issuing citations for human rights abuses and actually take action to prevent them.

What befuddles me about this debate is why anyone would be against disarming Saddam Hussein and forcing him to comply with the terms of the ceasefire.

Agreements are not worth the paper they are printed on if there is no enforcement mechanism to ensure they are carried out. The Chapel Hill anti-war crowd would be better served to protest the United Nations for killing trees and wasting paper.

Opposition to using military force against Saddam is especially disturbing in light of the fact that he has repeatedly shown that he is not afraid to use weapons of mass destruction even against his own citizens -- just ask the Kurds. Saddam has even admitted to producing anthrax along with other chemical and biological weapons.

Europeans and other liberal hand-wringers who have spoken out against using military force in Iraq must have forgotten the lesson of World War II.

Spineless European leaders seeking a short-term solution for peace allowed Hitler to rise to power while ignoring potential long-term consequences. This short-sighted solution resulted in the deaths of more than 6 million Jews.

Simply ignoring Saddam and Iraq will not make the problems go away as those who put the anti-war signs on Franklin Street claim. Turning a blind eye to the problems in Iraq will simply allow egregious human rights abuses to continue and put millions both in the Middle East and around the world in harm's way.

When those who oppose the use of military force in Iraq are not supporting Saddam they are rallying against human rights abuses around the world. Invading Iraq and changing the regime there will be a major step in correcting some of the worst human rights abuses on the planet. It sounds to me like they need to "get some backbone."

Michael McKnight thinks sorority girls are great. Reach him at mmcknigh@email.unc.edu.