(Seattle Times) Michael Kelly - The emerging core argument against war with Iraq is that such a war would constitute an unprovoked attack against a sovereign state. After Sept. 11, the largely accepted argument became: Persistent state support for groups bent on waging war against the U.S. is sufficient provocation for a U.S. attack against that state, and we, rightly, attacked the sovereign state of Afghanistan. The fact of Iraq's persistence in its weapons program is alone "proper provocation," as it clearly and massively violates the 1991 cease-fire that Iraq signed to escape destruction in the Gulf War. The United States has frequently waged war on nations that have not "properly" provoked it. Such conflicts include the invasions of Grenada and Panama, the Gulf War, and the air campaigns in 1996 against the Serbs in Bosnia and in 1999 against Serbia itself over Kosovo.
2002-08-15 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive