Correspondence
Correspondence IS IRAQ A THREAT? I READ WITH INTEREST Stephen F. Hayes's article on Scott Ritter, and I would like to comment on it ("Saddam Hussein's American Apologist," Nov. 19). The article...
...5) is a down-to-earth study of the fundamental realities in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and also in Kashmir...
...bombing of Iraq...
...Nonetheless, Western Europeans still enjoy a fairly high standard of living...
...Last year when oil was around $34 per barrel, President Clinton confronted Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah at the Millennium Conference about taking action on the price of oil...
...It is a shame that the Saudis can produce oil and get it onto a waiting tanker ship for $2 or $3 per barrel yet charge us $20 per barrel...
...Does that make them Saddam's American apologists...
...Even a cursory look at Butler's record will show that almost everything he has said after Sept...
...As it is, Saudi Arabia has a knife at our economic throat...
...Evidently, the Taliban was kept informed of Haq's movements by Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI...
...Moreover, if the order is judiciously applied only to those who have actually engaged in acts of war, as the order certainly appears intended to be used, then there should be no issue under Ex Parte Milligan, since that case only precluded the use of military commissions against the Copperhead sympathizers of the Confederacy rather than against Confederate guerrillas involved in acts contrary to the laws of war...
...Is this the best we can expect from Butler, the man who led UNSCOM—the organization charged with the disarmament of Iraq—for a year and a half...
...I don't have an axe to grind with sportutility vehicle owners, and I know that a sudden change in the price of oil can send this country into a deep recession...
...The figure of $5 per gallon that Stelzer tosses out is comparable to that paid by most Western Europeans (most of which is due to taxes...
...Generally, when a journalist is presented with a "he says, they say" dilemma, he investigates the facts, in this case about the status of disarmament in Iraq, and then lays out the findings objectively...
...Sadly, it seems being honest is not so palatable anymore...
...and ultimately because his attitude toward the truth is lax...
...But I am also aware that even a gradual approach to this matter would overcome the colossal inertia of vested interests, and that, if we have the will, we too should be prepared to pay $5 per gallon at the pump...
...The Weekly Standard would have better served its readers if the author had not just taken Scott Ritter's and Richard Butler's words at face value, but instead taken the time to analyze the UNSCOM records and the conclusions of technical experts together to present an objective picture of Iraq's disarmament status...
...What this is about is whether or not Iraq currently represents a threat to the United States...
...In relation to the current crisis, Ritter has stated that the anthrax incidents appear to be homegrown, and the evidence to date points in that direction...
...In short, the case for military tribunals rests upon sound historical footing...
...The Bush administration is caught in a tricky position, and as spelled out by Gerecht, whatever action it takes regarding the Taliban, must be swift and decisive...
...He was right...
...After all, this is not about Scott Ritter, Richard Butler, or even Saddam Hussein, although, in his "get Saddam at all costs" attitude Hayes would surely disagree...
...Scott Ritter's record paints a different picture...
...While no one died in this abortive Confederate effort, President Lincoln declined to exercise clemency...
...In his 1999 book Endgame, he claimed that if the Iraqi problem were not addressed, the sanctions would start to lose their effectiveness and the United States would lose its supporters worldwide...
...GEORGE HULSHART Pawleys Island, SC IN "WASHINGTON Goes to War" (Nov...
...economy and thus are not interested in bankrupting us with high oil prices...
...Ekeus served as the chairman of UNSCOM for longer than Richard Butler did, and he is widely respected for his knowledge and for his working to keep UNSCOM strictly within the mandate of the Security Council...
...This will avoid the danger of Pakistan's being fractured, which it will be if the situation is prolonged...
...There is also the danger of Pakistan supplying vital information of American strategies to the Taliban without being incriminated, to the chagrin of Pentagon experts...
...because he has a knack for speaking before thinking...
...Also, that "Iraq could be behind the September 11 attacks," another irresponsible speculation void of fact...
...He called the policy of containment of Saddam Hussein an abject failure, and he was right again...
...The United States must decide who to believe and who not to believe...
...Hayes writes, "Among the former arms inspectors, Ritter is unique in his benign views of the Iraqi threat...
...Today's vacillation toward Pakistan's policy will not last long...
...President Bush has mentioned technology previously as part of his energy independence plan, but it should be a top plank in his war on terrorism...
...Telling the truth does...
...11 has been incorrect, including, most recently, that "the threat of anthrax could be of Iraqi origin...
...12), Michael S. Greve writes, apropos of big government initiatives we should oppose, "That is why Washington-is-back pundits believe the public's renewed trust in Washington and its support for the war against terrorism will translate into support for Hillary Clinton's wish list—from improved mental health care to more efficient internal combustion engines . . . ." I believe developing more efficient internal combustion engines, efficient and safe nuclear power plants, and other alternative energy sources is a proper goal for the federal government...
...The United States has not made a serious effort to reduce its need for Saudi oil since it suffered in the 1973 oil embargo, a declared jihad...
...The prince responded, "Why don't you begin by lowering your taxes on oil products...
...11 attacks because the coalition, so fragile, would collapse...
...Wrapping oneself in an American flag does not make one a patriot...
...There have been numerous political declarations of energy independence plans, but they have been ineffective...
...THOMAS E. MOSELEY Newark, NJ THE PAKISTAN PROBLEM REUEL MARC GERECHT'S "Pakistan's Taliban Problem" (Nov...
...Gerecht is particularly on target when he points out the predicament Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf is in, as well as the leader's subtlety, by proposing that Musharraf will support the Taliban on one hand and remain a part of the United States' anti-terrorism campaign on the other...
...His assessment proved accurate...
...A big government program, or set of them, designed to remove that knife should be a primary war aim...
...We would be gullible to believe that the Pakistani dictator was unaware of these facts...
...19) have largely become public sentiment, it is important to point out that historical practice close to ground zero in New York supports the use of military commissions for those who violate the laws of war...
...while serving as a battle damage assessment analyst during the Gulf war, he stuck to his position—however unpopular at the time—that no SCUD launchers were destroyed during the U.S...
...Irwin M. Stelzer hints at nuclear power and coal as viable energy options, and we can say for certain that the replacement for oil will not be wind or solar power...
...Incidentally, Colin Powell, James Baker, and Brent Scowcroft are saying the same thing...
...The author conveniently ignores, or is unaware of, the views expressed by other inspectors such as Roger Hill, Chris Cobb-Smith, and especially Rolf Ekeus, the first chairman of UNSCOM, who back in 1995 said that Iraq had been "fundamentally disarmed...
...We can't risk Saudi ambivalence in this war...
...its objective will ultimately be survival...
...JAMES C. CASE Reston, VA WHAT HAPPENS NEXT NOW THAT the recommendations in Jerome M. Marcus's "Terrorists and the Law of War" (Nov...
...The same cannot be said about Butler...
...ESCAPE FROM THE SAUDIS IRWIN M. STELZER offers extraordinary insight into the United States' uncomfortable alliance with Saudi Arabia, but I am very disturbed by his pessimism regarding America's ability to wean itself off Saudi oil ("Can We Do Without Saudi Oil...
...MARINA RITTER Delmar, NY EDITOR'S NOTE: Marina Ritter is the wife of Scott Ritter...
...Stelzer notes correctly that the Saudis have enormous investments in the U.S...
...because he willingly abused the mandate given to his organization by the Security Council...
...For example, when a hapless band of Confederate agents dressed in civilian clothes failed in their scheme to set lower Manhattan ablaze in 1864, the one individual captured from this benighted group was tried by a military commission that convened on Bleecker Street, found guilty of violating the laws of war, and later hanged at Fort Lafayette...
...Former Saudi industry and electricity minister Hashem Yamani admitted as much when he said, "The Stone Age didn't come to an end because of a lack of stones...
...Had Hayes taken the trouble to speak to UNSCOM staff, he would have learned that Butler is not respected because his knowledge of the issues pertaining to Iraq's disarmament is superficial...
...Furthermore, even the liberal German refugee scholar Francis Lieber, who devised our first code of the law of war, emphasized that those who engage in irregular warfare can be dealt with summarily...
...The Taliban is Pakistan's favorite child, Musharraf or no Musharraf, and Pakistan's rulers cannot afford to see the Taliban being nipped off...
...G.V ASHTEKAR Dombivli, India...
...He has been saying that the United States cannot move on Iraq without possessing hard evidence of its involvement in the Sept...
...ANTONIO R. CHAVES Storrs, CT THE KEY TO REDUCING the United States' dependence on Saudi oil is technology...
...The article seems agenda-driven, probably due to the current with-us-or-against-us mentality, which is reminiscent of a slogan in a totalitarian state, not in a democracy...
...Such a scenario would not be in the interests of the United States or of Pakistan's neighbor India...
...If we had those, we wouldn't care what Arab nations thought of us, or of our support for fellow democracies such as Israel and India...
...Perhaps he has already resorted to this duplicitous strategy, as might be evident from the capture and murder of CIA messenger Abdul Haq...
...The solution, though, will be something like the hydrogen fuel cell, which is still not quite cost effective...
...Following the same logic, he is wrong to suggest we price gasoline at $5 per gallon to discourage use...
...Hayes instead wholeheartedly embraces the views of Richard Butler and others, but he cites nothing to substantiate their belief that Iraq represents a credible threat to the United States, except mentions of their abstract musings about hypothetical intent on the part of Saddam Hussein...
Vol. 7 • December 2001 • No. 12
