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Neutralize Hussein by Succeeding in Afghanistan
Monday, November 19, 2001
By Richard C. Hottelet
For The New Republic Online
Commentary

Richard C. Hottelet was a long-time correspondent for CBS.

Art by Dean Rohrer.

It's reasonable to assume that Hussein has been working hand in glove with bin Laden and the Taliban.

WILTON, Conn
Astonishingly, some serious people in Washington are advocating American military action to overthrow Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq. They urge that this be done soon, before "the window of opportunity" to rid the world of a clear and present danger closes.

This is not idle chatter. The Bush administration has left the option open. When the US and the United Kingdom informed the UN Security Council that they were at war in self-defense against Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda organization and the Taliban government, the American letter went much beyond the British one. In a sentence reportedly inserted by the White House, it reserved the right also to take "further actions with respect to other organizations and other states." In the present circumstances, that could only mean Iraq.

But the argument behind the call is a specious mixture of fact and ideology. Some of the fact is not in dispute. Mr. Hussein is a world-class war criminal. He launched a war of conquest against Iran in 1980 that cost hundreds of thousands of lives. He bombed Iran with poison gas and gassed thousands of Kurds.
(More: The Christian Science Monitor News Source)
2001 © The New Republic Online.

Cauterize the bastard while the iron is still hot,
Dan