Saddam
must go, by choice or by force!
Pascal Bruckner, André Glucksmann and Romain Goupil
Translated by Douglas
French original: "Saddam doit partir, de gré ou de force!"
(Le Monde, 2003/03/03)In 1991, we called on the democracies to use any means — military if necessary — to put an end to the ethnic cleansing undertaken by Slobodan Milosevic in Croatia. We were then cheerfully dismissed by the military, policy experts and governments, not to mention politicians.
Eight years and 200,000 deaths later, it was indeed a NATO intervention that allowed the repatriation of a million Kosovars. Even then, the pacifists told us that the “American” expedition against Serbia would lead the world to bloody mayhem. Today, Milosevic is explaining himself before a tribunal for crimes against humanity.
Saddam Hussein is no less cruel than Milosevic and far more dangerous. In demonizing George W. Bush, the “new Satan,” “new Hitler,” and “new bin Laden,” the peace protestors of 15 February left out of their chants the master of Baghdad — the great admirer of Stalin who has been crushing, torturing and strangling his people for 30 years.
He is playing with fire at the heart of a global powder keg: the Middle East. He is defying the international community and persists in not frankly and radically disarming. It is time for him to go. The UN Security Council must force him to do so, peacefully if possible, militarily if necessary, should he not comply.
Delays and tergiversations, the more we wait, the more it costs the Iraqi people. The more the UN’s image suffers.How can one forget the Tutsi genocide in Rwanda (1994), committed in full view and with the knowledge of a passive international community. How can one avoid thinking of the martyred Chechen people while the “moral” Franco-German alliance casts Russia as a cantor of peace!
Of course, Saddam Hussein is not the only dictator but at least we have the chance to put him beyond the ability to harm others by supporting the pressure of the Anglo-American forces on the Iraqi border.
It would be regrettable to reduce the present crisis to a Franco-American conflict when the two countries’ points of view could have been complementary.
It would be catastrophic if out of vainglory and stubbornness Paris resorted to the veto, at the risk of shattering Western solidarity and leaving Europe somewhat shaken (which, let’s remember, cannot be reduced to the Paris-Berlin axis alone).
Saddam must go, by choice or by force! The Iraqis, the Kurds, Shi’ites, but also Sunnis will breath freer and the peoples of the region will be relieved.
After Milosevic, the Balkans are not heaven but there is more peace and less dictatorship. The post-Saddam era will not be rosy, but less black than 30 years of tyranny, summary executions and war.Pascal Bruckner is an author.
André Glucksmann is a philosopher and essayist.
Romain Goupil is a filmmaker.
[Posted 2003/03/08]
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