Last call for Saddam

Make no mistake, the issue is not ends but means. The US is not isolated on the question of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s exit. It i...

Make no mistake, the issue is not ends but means. The US is not isolated on the question of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s exit. It is in a minority within the international community only on the question of whether waging war is the right means to achieve this end.

The debate in the UN Security Council on the report presented by US Secretary of State Colin Powell revealed conclusively that Saddam has few friends in the world community even if many of the Security Council members are not yet prepared to accord approval for military action.

The Security Council has correctly asked the US to give the weapons inspectors more time, so that no one can accuse the global community of rushing through the investigation or of pre-judging Saddam.

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However, none of the members came out openly in defence of the Iraqi dictator. Not even Islamic nations. Pakistan, which had resorted to tired rhetoric of the combined anger of the global Islamic “ummah” stopped short of defending Saddam. Its representative also urged him to respect the will of the Iraqi people.

It is now clear that Saddam has become a burden for Iraqis. He runs a repressive regime that has no genuinely tested popular support. However, it cannot be felled merely by the pressure of US military action. Saddam’s regime is not as isolated as Afghanistan’s Taliban regime was. More to the point, the US cannot reserve the right to strike militarily where and when it chooses, without concern for international opinion.

The message from the Security Council is clear for both Saddam and US President George Bush. Both are being told to respect international opinion. Saddam by quitting, and Bush by not waging war unilaterally. The majority opinion within the Security Council reflects India’s own position.

India, too, has expressed its concern for peace and stability in the Middle East, for democracy and for the fight against terrorism. Yet India, too, believes that military hostilities at this stage may not resolve matters, rather they are likely to make matters worse for the Iraqis, for Indians in Iraq and for the global economy and the well-being of people worldwide.

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Bush must pay heed to this voice. Indeed, this is the moment when he can be generous for the global community has, by and large, endorsed the US view that Saddam’s regime must go. In the battle on the means one must not lose sight of the ends. The end in this case is to eliminate the bases of jehadi terrorism and to sow the seeds of liberal democracy in this part of the world. The US was called upon to lead a coalition to this end against the axis powers in 1941 and it is once again being called upon to do so in the Middle East. But it is a coalition that the US must lead now. Unilateralism cannot work, just as it would not have in the forties.