Originally posted by Filmproducer:
Iraq is not the only country, BY FAR, where a corrupt government kills, tortures, or maims innocent people. Why is it we accept going to war with one "evil regime", but not others? The situation in Darfur, Sudan is much more atrocious than Saddam's Iraq, but our government would not even admit that genocide even occurred. How many of you would support going to war with the Janjaweed and President Bashir? Don't the Sudanese deserve the same "right to life and freedom" as we supposedly gave Iraqis? If not, why not?
The first thing you have to acknowledge is the fact that Saddam, as the President of Iraq, signed a treaty to bring about the secession of hostilities in the 1991 Gulf War. That treaty required Iraq to disarm, to destroy all WMDs, to stop trying to make new WMDs, to provide full and open disclosure that they had complied with the above criteria, and to be fully open and submit to UN inspection teams that would verify that Iraq had complied and remains in compliance with the terms of the treaty. Finally, the 1991 Gulf War Treaty made it clear that military force would again be brought to bear against Iraq if it (Iraq) failed to comply with the requirements of the treaty.
Then, for approximately 9 years Saddam and the nation of Iraq thumbed their noses at the UN and did not uphold their end of the 1991 Treaty. Thus, President Bush went repeatedly to the UN seeking resolution after resolution that would force Iraq into compliance with the 1991 treaty. The final UN resolution made it clear that military force would again be brought to bear against Iraq if it failed to comply by a certain date. That date came and went without Iraq being in full compliance with the terms of the 1991 Treaty. President Bush realized that the UN did not have the backbone to enforce the terms of its own resolutions and/or the 1991 Gulf War Treaty. Thus, President Bush sought and obtained authorization from the US Congress to deploy US military forces to bring Iraq into compliance with the terms of the 1991 Gulf War Treaty. These facts are what give the US just cause to return to a state of war in Iraq and they also fall in line with the Just War criteria listed in my last post (back on page 7).
Regarding Sudan, yes it is terrible what is happening there. There is likely very strong evidence that would fall in line with the Just War criteria and allow us or the UN to go to war to stop the genocide in Sudan. The problem is, just as you point out, there are numerous places around the world where similar evil is taking place. I don't know if the US has a large enough military to try and police them all at the same time. We have to pick our battles and Iraq was the first and most immediate with just cause based upon the requirements of the 1991 Gulf War treaty.
