Just One Question

Can bombing stop Iraq from acquiringchemical and biological weapons?

Government professorRobert A. Pape, author of Bombing to Win (CornellUniversity Press, 1996),gives an opinion:

The United States cannot stop Iraq from acquiring chemical and biological weapons and it should give up trying. Neither inspections nor air strikes will degrade Iraq's weapons of mass destruction for long. Any state that can produce chemical fertilizers and penicillin also can produce VX nerve gas and botulinum toxin. Trying to destroy every stack of petri dishes in Iraq would require carpet bombing on a scale no Western society would contemplate.

Using air power to try to "decapitate" Saddam Hussein also is misguided. It would take a lucky shot to get Saddam himself, and it would be next to impossible to weaken his internal security apparatus enough to topple him. Even if Saddam were removed, any successor—even one more friendly to the West—would want weapons of mass destruction, to balance the growing nuclear capabilities of Israel and Iran. No policy on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction will succeed until the West recognizes that Saddam's personal ambitions are not the sole source of the problem.

The U.S. should pursue a new strategy aimed at containing Iraq's ability to menace its neighbors with ground forces and ballistic missiles, the most important dangers posed by Iraq. U.S. policy must cope with a future in which Iraq once again will have the resources to purchase weapons. The U. S. should offer to lift international sanctions immediately in exchange for Iraq's agreement not to acquire certain categories of offensive weapons, such as tanks and bombers, nor to acquire or test ballistic missiles without the approval of the U.N. Security Council.

This strategy has four virtues. First, it addresses territorial aggression against Kuwait and Saudi Arabia and missile strikes against Israel. Second, it is more humane; punishment of innocent Iraqis would cease. Third, it would be likely to gain international support. Fourth, the plan is enforceable. Ballistic missiles are hard to detect, but missile tests are not. If Iran tests ballistic missiles, the U.S. could retaliate by attacking whatever missiles or other heavy weapons that could be located. As long as the world depends on Persian Gulf oil and Iraq poses a threat, no policy would eliminate the need for American forces in the Gulf. It is time for the U.S. to mount a workable policy.