Unwillingness to debate only furthers our schoolyard bully image

Saddam Hussein recently challenged President Bush to an internationally broadcast debate…. Saddam Hussein recently challenged President Bush to an internationally broadcast debate. Bush decided not to take this challenge seriously.

I can’t decide whether this makes Bush look self-righteous or cowardly; it seems that he either embraces the un-American idea that those who disagree with him shouldn’t get to voice their opinion, or he doesn’t feel confident that he can actually win the debate.

Simply put, I was under the impression that America was taking the high ground on the issue, both morally and logically. And the high ground, the American way, entails giving ear to the opinions of the opposition, no matter how vile those people may be.

For America to be truly just in this situation, Hussein should get his chance to step up to the plate, and if America has a leg to stand on in the issue at hand, Bush will unquestionably come out on top.

Hussein may even have a few valid points to make. For instance, Hussein, like most who have contempt for America, likely views the United States as an oppressive, imperialist bully, which is more or less the complaint we had against Britain a few hundred years ago. And not only would he have a point, he would be absolutely right. As a nation, we carry the biggest stick in human history; we can get our way on more or less every issue.

Our only basis for defense against this accusation is that we are righteous bullies – that we work, not out of self-interest, but in the interest of the greatest good, and we oppress only evil. If we cannot support that claim, we have no right to say that Iraq cannot have weapons of mass destruction while America can.

In World War II, Americans imprisoned innocent Japanese-Americans and killed tens of thousands of Japanese citizens in the blink of an eye. We were by no means beyond moral reproach, but compared to our enemies, we came off looking pretty good.

We don’t have to argue that America is infallible, only that America is more just than Iraq.

Since 1990, 1.5 million Iraqi citizens have died from illnesses. Saddam argues that this is the result of sanctions against Iraq. Had Iraq not been denied medicine, those deaths could have been prevented. Bush blames this on Saddam’s obstinacy.

Who’s to blame?

This is the sort of question that could be cleared up during a debate. I still don’t know whether there is a defensible reason that medicine would be included in an embargo, or even, for that matter, if it was included in the embargo.

Both sides obviously can’t be right and, frankly, I don’t really care to hear what anti-war protesters tell me, because I sincerely doubt that they have much more information than I do.

I can draw the conclusion that war with Iraq will make America appear even more like a schoolyard bully, increasing anti-American sentiment in the process. I feel certain that there will be a backlash; that violence, as it has been since the dawn of mankind, will beget more violence. But none of that matters if America is in the right. We should do the right thing, even if people don’t like us very much, or even if it might invite reprisals. We took far too long to enter World War II, and no one forgets the consequences. And there is no way we should’ve stayed out of that war.

Some hacker in Malaysia threatened to release a computer virus if the United States attacks Iraq. That shouldn’t even deserve a mention, but with this war, it does. If Hussein is so wicked that we need to get rid of him, why, then, did we not do so when we won the last war with Iraq?

As I understand it, we were worried that the government taking Hussein’s place would collapse, throwing the oil industry into turmoil. The potential war with Iraq seems to be one of pragmatism, not morality.

I am not convinced that America is in the right. We would certainly not be in the wrong, but Bush hasn’t convinced me that this war is a moral necessity. If Bush can’t defend his reasoning for going to war, then I, for one, don’t think we should. Bush needs to step up and tell us why he’s right and Saddam is wrong.

E-mail Marty at mflaherty@pittnews.com. He won’t bite. At least, not unless he can argue his case as to why you should be bitten.