Plato once said, "When the tyrant has disposed of foreign enemies by conquest or treaty, and there is nothing more to fear from them, then he is always stirring up some war or other, in order that the people may require a leader." As we press on in the war against Iraq and analyze the situation, one can see that Plato's quotation is strikingly true. I would never encourage war if a better resolution could be reached. War is by far one of the ugliest aspects of human nature. Unfortunately, sometimes it cannot be avoided. Albert Einstein said, "So long as there are men there will be wars." Sorry to say, I feel he was right. On March 20, 2003, shortly after the 48-hour deadline for Saddam to step down as ruler of Iraq, America launched its" first series of air strikes on Baghdad. Since then, there has been much debate about whether or not the United States and its allies are justified in the attempt to disarm Saddam Hussein, and to force him from power. I do not feel the war was legal, although it was necessary and justified. .
In the past year we have pushed aside what started out as a war on terrorism and have chosen to begin a new war. Despite opposition from the United Nations we have proceeded into the conflict, which violates international law. We have chosen to fight a "new evil" as President George W. Bush said in his address to the nation regarding his "axis of evil" last spring. The ironic thing is that Iraq is far from a "new evil". .
The former Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein rose to power in 1979 through a coup in which the Ba"ath Party (Arab Socialist Renaissance Party) overthrew the government of General Abdul Arif (Iraq 2/03). During his twenty-year term, Saddam has engaged in many atrocities and human right violations. He has oppressed and massacred Iraq's native Kurdish population in the north, and the native Shia population in the south, which represent 20 percent and 60 percent of the population respectively (Pollack, 61).