[ OUR OPINION ]
PRESIDENT Bush has begun to articulate a strong case for international action to force Iraq's disarmament of weapons of mass destruction. Less compelling is his suggestion that Iraq presents a clear and present danger to the United States, justifying a preemptive strike by U.S.-led forces even without United Nations' backing. Evidence to be presented to the U.N. Security Council next Wednesday by Secretary of State Colin Powell should clarify whether -- and if so, when -- military action against Iraq is warranted by a broad coalition of participating countries. Iraq war must
be backed by coalition
THE ISSUE President Bush has warned Americans that war with Iraq may be unavoidable.
Iraq insists that U.N. inspectors have been unable to find chemical, biological or nuclear weapons because there are none. However, Iraq has refused to provide evidence about what happened to weapons and material that it has acknowledged having or that U.N. inspectors established existed during the 1990s. That defiance is a breach of the U.N. resolution passed three months ago.
Hans Blix, the U.N.'s chief arms inspector, said Monday that his team has received no information about the status of 6,500 chemical bombs, 30,000 warheads for dispersing chemicals, and large volumes of anthrax and a highly toxic nerve agent known as VX, all of which Iraq is known to have possessed. Bush, in his State of the Union address, said U.S. and British intelligence have learned of Iraq's possession of lethal chemical agents and mobile labs to produce biological agents, and its attempt to obtain uranium from Africa.
The president said such weaponry would allow Saddam Hussein to "resume his ambitions of conquest in the Middle East and create havoc in that region." Bush also claimed to have "evidence from intelligence sources, secret communication and statements by people now in custody" that Saddam "aids and protects terrorists, including members of al-Qaida." However, he provided no details.
American intelligence officials are divided about the Baghdad government's links to an extremist group in northern Iraq, some of whose members trained in al-Qaida's camps in Afghanistan. As yet, our knowledge of any relationship between Saddam and the group is too tenuous to be used as a basis for a U.S.-led attack on Iraq as part of the war against terrorism.
CONSUMERS and business leaders looking to the president to relieve their unease about the nation's listless economy may have found comfort in his call to accelerate his tax-cut plans. However, the uncertainty of war that has checked spending, investment and jobs continues to be a barrier to recovery. War talk eclipses
hope for recovery
THE ISSUE The president seeks to calm the nation's economic jitters with tax cuts and a little spending.
The impending conflict with Iraq is a foreboding presence for tourism-dependent Hawaii. Although discussion has converged on the question of "if" there will be a war, the Bush administration seems focused beyond that to "when" a conflict will begin. In that light, concern about the economy expands to the duration of fighting and the corresponding cost that could stifle the president's initiatives.
In his address to Congress and the nation Tuesday, Bush proposed that his 10-year, $670 billion tax cut plan be launched right away, contending it would revive the economy. Democrats, of course, disagree. They say a better and less costly way would be to give each taxpayer a $300 rebate and to provide $40 billion in aid to states and cities, an omission in Bush's plans. The reasoning is that the president's tax cuts would be nullified as local governments, suffering severe revenue shortages and reduced federal aid, raise their taxes.
Compromise may not be on the agenda as Bush steers toward the 2004 election, but surely a middle ground can be found with so much at stake.
The president also called for spending $400 billion for a drug benefit program outside of Medicare that would allow recipients to sign up with private health plans instead. As good as it sounds, the proposal sidesteps the issue of prescription drug costs and further threatens the stability of Medicare.
Bush's promise that his fiscal plans would not "pass along our problems to other Congresses, to other presidents and other generations" is difficult to reckon with the huge deficits that government economists project will total $199 billion this year -- not including any of the president's tax and budget plans. The White House itself predicts the deficit will be $300 billion -- not counting a war.
Although Bush sought to soothe jitters about the economy, Hawaii's tourism industry, retailers, other businesses and taxpayers recollect the harsh financial burden of the Gulf War a decade ago. None look forward to a repetition.
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