Since Powell’s presentation at the United Nations, there seem to be so many people imitating Renee Zellweger to Tom Cruise in “Jerry Maguire”: “You had me at hello.” With possibly hundreds of thousands of lives at stake, we should be more cautious. Some points to ponder:

The evidence, circumstantial at best, includes charges which have been shown to be false. Notably, the aluminum tubes that Iraq is importing are widely accepted to be for conventional weapons and not for use in weapons of mass destruction.

Although it is central to Powell’s argument, any link to al-Qaida is irrelevant. U.N. Resolution 1441 does not deal with links to terrorist organizations. Even so, there is no link to al-Qaida. The purported link, Zarqawi, is based in northern Iraq, which Saddam has not controlled since the Persian Gulf War and installment of the northern no-fly zone. A New York Times article on Feb. 1 shows that many CIA and FBI agents are either skeptical or disbelieve any link exists: “We’ve been looking at this, and you know what, we just don’t think it’s there.” A BBC article from Feb. 5 quotes a leaked British defense document as saying bin Laden’s aims “are in ideological conflict with present day Iraq.” The document concludes that no link exists. (Remember, Britain is the only member of the Security Council that has consistently backed the United States’ stance.)

The United States has a history of manufacturing reasons for war, from the sinking of the U.S.S. Maine for the Spanish-American War to the Gulf of Tonkin attack for the Vietnam War. The most relevant example is one that launched us into the first Persian Gulf War. In 1990 Congress heard testimony that Iraqi soldiers were removing Kuwaiti babies from hospital incubators, testimony which ultimately swayed Congress into supporting the war. Scowcroft has acknowledged the story was “useful in mobilizing public opinion.”

It turns out the witness was the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador to the United States and the story was invented by the public relations firm Hill & Knowlton. (Village Voice, “Broadcast Ruse,” Nov. 13-19, 2002). Powell is “easily the most level-headed member of the Bush administration,” though not the honest person that we might want him to be. In 1985 he played a key role in the arms-for-hostages deal that became known as the Iran-contra Scandal. In 1968 he was assigned to investigate allegations that the Army’s Americal Division was committing atrocities in Vietnam. His conclusion: “In direct refutation of this portrayal relations between Americal soldiers and the Vietnamese people are excellent.” Relations were not “excellent,” and Powell knew it.

The Americal Division, which contains the 11th Light Infantry Brigade, known as “The Butcher Brigade” by its own members, routinely committed atrocities against civilians, including the famous massacre of the entire village of My Lai.

Powell’s presentation raised questions about Iraq’s weapons without supplying any definitive answers. It is important to note that most of the delegates pressed for more inspections — in other words, they did not feel that Iraq posed enough of a threat to launch an attack.

James Fiedler

Graduate

Mathematics