WEAPONS OF MASS DECEPTION

Opponents to the war in Iraq have changed tack in their criticisms of Australia, Britain and the United States.

There is almost a know-it-all smugness in their letters to the Editor and on talkback radio: “ See, they haven’t found any weapons of mass destruction, have they?”

That chorus gets louder – especially in France and Germany – as the war goes on and no chemical or biological weapons are found.

It is true that much of the political, legal and diplomatic justification for the war was based on the claims that Saddam Hussein is hiding weapons of mass destruction and has defied repeated demands by the UN Security Council over the years to surrender or destroy them.

A US State Department spokesman said at the weekend: “ We know we need to find this stuff. And we know that we will”.

Another argument being run by the anti-War brigade is along the lines that if Saddam really has such weapons why hasn’t he used them?

If he did of course he would be branded to the world as an unmitigated liar and thug and even France could no longer stay in neutral.

In fact, French President Jacques Chirac has said that if Saddam used chemical or biological weapons then his country would join the fight against him.

Over the weekend US marines started digging up a suspected chemical weapons hiding place under a concrete slab in a girls’ school in central Iraq.

That procedure will be done a hundred times around the country but it is not a priority. Getting rid of Saddam and his regime is top priority.

When that has been accomplished – as it should be in the next few days – then Iraqis who know where the weapons are hidden are likely to start talking.

In the meantime thousands of chemical suits, masks, antidote needles etcetera that have already been found will not be enough to convince America’s opponents.

But the weekend discovery by British soldiers of a horror chamber with bags of body pieces and bullet-ridden skulls and hundreds of cardboard coffins should be enough proof that Saddam had to go.

Monday, April 7, 2003

©Copyright Derryn Hinch 2002