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| Entering the gates of hell | |
Saddam has promised the coalition forces that they will enter the gates of
hell when they get to Baghdad. An apt description considering the destruction,
explosions and trenches of burning oil the war-struck city has seen over the
past week. But will the smell which greets the US soldiers be brimstone, the
burning oil, or the juicy-fruit smell of Sarin gas? Few people really doubt the war's eventual outcome. Saddam will go, one way
or another. The major issue for the US is the cost of a human life. They can
kill lots of civilians, save some money, and get Saddam quickly, or it can wait
a while, spend a whole lot more money and kill more US soldiers, but save some
more Iraqi civilians. But if Saddam were to get his old chemistry set out of the closet, things
would change. Suddenly the smoking gun would be there for all to see, and in
the excitement, a few civilian kilo-deaths would barely make page six of
France's Le Monde. Saddam, though, will have to be pushed a bit harder to take that option, and
even then he will only take it if he thinks it can save him. It's in the nature
of the beast to use any means necessary for survival, and Saddam's longevity
suggests that his survival instinct is quite strong. Many people would even say
that using any means for survival is a fundamental human right. But Saddam wants something besides survival - to leave an heroic legacy,
and this presents the US with a dilemma. If they convince Saddam he is going to
die he will go out fighting the hard fight, and try to leave a legacy of
martyrdom. If they doddle around and make him think that his chemistry set will
save his bacon, he will use it. But in that case his use of WMDs will
vindicate their attack on Iraq in the eyes the international community. And in the background the Americans are thinking that the Baghdad issue is
really just a matter of 45 square kilometers of Iraqi real estate. Nothing that
a few dozen Daisy Cutters or MOABs couldn't sort out once and
for all. Meanwhile, the US soldiers are taking a break in the Iraqi desert to find
their bearings. It will require more than the passing of a sand-storm to
provide a clear direction in this dilemma.
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