Weblog
10/14/02 08:56 PM: Sniper Attacks, Iraq
Lately the website has been devoid of any decent content, so I decided tonight I would provide something useful. I have two things I need to discuss tonight. The first is the recent sniper attacks, and the second is the Iraq issue.
As most of the readers here may know, I attend Georgetown University in Washington, DC. Further, as I am going to assume most people are familiar with the recent “Washington Sniper” attacks. Tonight, not that long ago, there was yet another shooting—this time in Fairfax County in Virginia. The shooting scene is not that far from here. The Beltway has been shutdown, and a full manhunt is in progress. Just moments before finding out about this shooting, I was discussing with my roommate the probablity that the sniper would strike again. This is getting to be quite frusterating and concerning. While I do not think the sniper will attack the University, people do leave campus and go to populated areas. Rosslyn, Virginia, which is right across the Potomac is one major place students go, mainly because there is a Metro stop there. It is right near the on-ramp to the George Washington Parkway, and could possibly be a target.
I found myself constantly looking over my shoulder as I walked down M Street this weekend, watching for any white trucks or white vans. While at this point it is not clear who is doing this, or what their motive is, the result has been a “terrorist” like effect. There has had a larger impact on day-to-day activities of people in the region than following September 11. People are afraid, and people are on edge. It seems to be the perfect crime, slipping away into the dark (or into traffic) after firing a single shot. If he were to stop now, I would have to think he would never be caught. However, from the pattern it looks like he won’t stop until he is caught.
I wish this would end, the daily waiting for, and worrying that, the sniper to strike again. The apparant randomness makes us all feel vulnerable.
I will now, for the sake of brevity, move on to the second topic. This is in response to a post by Paul McCord, which was also featured on Instapundit. Paul discusses the Iraq regime change issue at length, and also the consequences that could arise from U.S. involvement.
I happen to agree with what he says, but I do want to discuss for a moment the moral authority question. My belief is that Saddam Hussein posseses weapons of mass destruction (Chemical and Biological at the very least), and has used them on his own people in the past. However, as I do not work for the Defense Department (yet), I cannot say with certainty what the actual risk Iraq poses to the United States is at this time. That being said, I need to put a certain degree of faith into the President and his administration, and believe that he would only use military force as a last resort. While my political philosophies might not always match that of the Republican party—I still have to believe that even Bush would not send troops to fight (and die) for something entirely overblown or fabricated.
However, the issue of an unprovoked attack on a soverign nation arises. Can the U.S. retain any moral high ground by engaging such an attack? Personally, I believe the answer is yes. I believe that Saddam’s actions against his own people are reason enough to go in. The same can be said for other nations with oppresive rulers, dare I say even Saudi Arabia. The rest of the world seems perfectly content to turn a blind eye to these tragedies, and my view is, if no one else is going to do it, then we must. Not just for our own sake, but for the sake of the people suffering at the hands of these cruel dictators.
To this degree, I have to agree with The Counter-Revolutionary in saying that we need to liberate Iraq. I believe we can maintain our moral stance if the main objective is to oust Saddam and replace his regime with a government of the people (and one that does not oppress certain groups). Our own security concerns aside, we need to promote human rights and freedom. Removing Saddam for the purposes of freeing Iraq is a goal I can subscribe to. Removing him because he may pose a threat to the U.S. isn’t so easy to embrace. As seen in the concerns of Jim Duensing, “Iraq, Iran, Egypt, et al can attack Israel with the same moral authority America will attack Iraq with. China can attack Taiwan with that same moral authority. Far from bringing global governance, this…could very well lead to the final world war.”
I believe that it should be the duty of any world governance body to root out and destroy those who oppress their fellow countrymen. We can no longer just ignore it, or pretend it doesn’t happen. We cannot compromise, we cannot negociate, we cannot simply condem, we cannot simply ignore—we must act. It is time for us to say no more, it is time for us to step up and take action. As Martin Luther King, Jr, said “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
The time for justice is now.
