|
|  |
 |
 | |  |
|
|
Share with Us
We
like to keep important topics
affecting our world close
at hand. We will post news,
articles, comments, and
other publications from
our students and other contributors.
Please be sure to indicate
how your topic relates or
affects us all.
|
|
|  |
|
|
|
Student
Publications
We like to keep important topics affecting
our world close at hand. We will post news,
articles, comments, and other publications
from our students and other contributors.
The Unasked Questions
by Harry Browne
The other evening Connie Chung on CNN interviewed
two Iraqi women living in the U.S. One hoped
for peace, the other wanted the U.S. military
to unseat Saddam Hussein -- thinking, I suppose,
that whoever takes his place will be a kind,
benevolent statesman (like all the other kind,
benevolent leaders of the world).
The woman who wanted war maintained that Hussein
would never disarm voluntarily. I waited in
vain, as I so often do, for the interviewer
to ask the obvious question:
"Why should Saddam Hussein disarm, when
no other country is disarming?"
This prompted me to wonder how many times
I've watched an interview and waited for an
obvious question to be asked -- only to see
the interviewer ignore the obvious and continue
with his scripted questions.
I could think of quite a few examples. Here
are those concerning Iraq that come to mind
now. . . .
Liberating the Iraqis
Assertion: The Iraqi people will be far better
off after we unseat Saddam Hussein.
Question: On what do you base that expectation?
Have you noticed what's been going on in Afghanistan
since the U.S. government lost interest and
turned its attention to Iraq?
Those Awful Weapons
Assertion: Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass
destruction. You can't allow such a dictator
to have such weapons.
Question: If that's the case, why didn't the
America threaten Leonid Brezhnev of the Soviet
Union the way it's threatening Saddam Hussein
now?
Dealing with Dictators
Assertion: You can't do business with dictators.
Question: Then why is George Bush enlisting
the support of dictators in Saudi Arabia,
Kuwait, Qatar, Pakistan, and other countries
to make war against Iraq?
War Crimes
Assertion: When the war is over, Saddam Hussein
must be prosecuted for war crimes.
Question: Since the war hasn't even started
yet, how can he be accused of war crimes already?
Revenge
Assertion: Saddam Hussein even tried to assassinate
President Bush's father. Our national honor
demands that we unseat this evil man.
Question: Are you aware of what happened when
the Austrian government tried to avenge the
assassination of Archduke Ferdinand by the
Serbs in 1914? The world was plunged into
World War I -- a holocaust that caused the
deaths of millions of innocent people. How
do you know that won't happen in the current
situation?
The Evidence
Assertion: President Bush is right, but he
hasn't made his case to the American people.
He needs to make the evidence against Hussein
public.
Question: Since President Bush has been claiming
for over a year to have evidence that he hasn't
revealed, why are you so sure there _is_ any
evidence?
Trusting the Untrustworthy
Assertion: I trust my President and my government.
Question: After the Gulf War, it turned out
that all the reasons for going to war had
been false -- no Iraqi troops massed on the
Saudi Arabia border, no babies ripped from
incubators by Iraqi troops in Kuwaiti hospitals.
Most of the same people who were in charge
then are in the current administration. Why
should we trust them again?
Chemical & Biological Weapons
Assertion: We know Saddam Hussein used chemical
and biological weapons during the war against
Iran.
Question: Then why did the Reagan administration
support him so hole heartedly in that war?
Proving a Negative
Assertion: We've waited for two years for
Saddam Hussein to come clean. It's obvious
he's not going to. We should go into Iraq,
remove him, and destroy the weapons.
Question: But suppose he _doesn't_ have such
weapons. How can he prove this when whatever
he says is branded a lie by George Bush? Given
what's happened so far, we can assume that
even if Hussein said, "I give up; here
are my weapons," George Bush would claim
Hussein is still lying, is still hiding more
weapons, and must be disarmed by force. So
how can Hussein possibly satisfy George Bush?
Sacrifice
Assertion: We must all make some sacrifices
for security in this awful War against Terrorism.
Question: What sacrifices are _you_ making?
Whom Should We Trust?
We know that politicians lie. They've lied
to us about Social Security, about the projected
costs of Medicare, about surpluses that never
existed, about the Gulf War, about enough
matters to fill an encyclopedia.
The fact that we're now talking about national
security shouldn't cause us to have more faith
in government and politicians. Quite the contrary:
_because_ it's our lives that are at stake,
we should be more skeptical then ever.
Unfortunately, the press -- who should be
asking the skeptical questions for us -- is
little more than an adjunct of the government,
accepting political pronouncements as gospel.
That leaves it up to us. We must be vigilant,
assertive in demanding answers-- and sometimes
noisy.
|
 | |  |
|
