Declaring war on Iraq is wrong.
What is the purpose of going to war with Iraq? It has “weapons of mass destruction,” according to President Bush.
Bush chooses not to mention one thing, though. Iraq is not the only country that poses a threat to the United States with weapons of mass destruction.
There are numerous countries that pose a bigger threat to the United States than Iraq. North Korea, to name one of them.
It should be the United Nations as whole that decides to go to war with Iraq, not just the United States and Britain.
France, Germany and Russia submitted a proposal to the United Nations on Monday, calling for a step-by-step disarmament of Iraq, according to The Associated Press. French President Jacques Chirac describes this as “the logic of peace.”
This would be a great way to make sure Saddam Hussein and Iraq do not threaten U.S. interests and allies.
But the Bush administration does not see it that way. According to Bush, Iraq should have disarmed last fall.
The one thing that Iraq does have that other potential threats don’t is oil. Iraq is the second largest supplier of crude oil in the world, according to The Washington Post.
While administration officials say they have not begun to focus on the issues involving oil and Iraq, American oil companies already have begun maneuvering for a stake in Iraq’s oil reserve.
Since the Persian Gulf War in 1991, companies from more than a dozen nations, including France, Russia, China, India, Italy, Vietnam and Algeria, have either reached or sought to reach agreements to develop Iraqi oil fields. Most of the deals are on hold until the lifting of U.N. sanctions, The Post reported.
France, Russia and China already have a stake in Iraq which war would disturb. They want to give Iraq time to comply with the United Nations so they can move forward with their business.
Access to Iraqi oil and profits will depend on the nature and intentions of a new government.
The United States should get out of the oil business and let the United Nations do its job in disarming Iraq.