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To Kill a Mocking Leader

© lawhawk

By now, most people have allowed the crisis between the US, UN and Iraq to recede in to the deeper corners of our collective consciousness. The imminent threat of war has past and it appears that the UN has been given permission to search eight Iraqi presidential palaces for traces of chemical and biological weapons.

Most observers feel that all the agreement has secured is a several-month lull in hostilities until Iraq is ready to battle the United Nations again. Some have suggested that the United States lead a covert mission into Iraq and eliminate Saddam Hussein - as if that would solve the issue. "If you kill the leader who is causing all the problems, how can things not help but improve?" is the rallying cry around attempting a covert operation to eliminate Saddam.

This view is extremely shortsighted, not to mention extremely hard to actually execute. The US has had numerous failures in covert operations that sought to depose leaders around the world including at least nine attempts on Fidel Castro of Cuba. Success in a hostile region such as the Middle East makes planning even more difficult and the possibilities of reduced US prestige in the region is increased.

Questions that proponents of covert deposition of President Hussein fail to account for what would happen to Iraq after he is killed. Will his son assume command of the military and crush whatever fledgling government is put in place by US forces? His son is known to be even more ruthless than his father. Is this what we want?

Will neighboring countries such as Iran, Turkey and Syria rush in to carve out portions of the country and incorporate the land into their own? None of these countries have any love lost for Iraq nor Iraq's leadership so this would be an attempt to fill the vacuum left by the deposition of Saddam Hussein.

What about the Kurdish and Shiite populations? Will they rise up and form their own breakaway republics and cause additional problems in a region that is already tremendously unstable? Meanwhile, the average citizen of Iraq continues to suffer from a lack of basic items including medication and potable water. UNICEF has an extensive web site and has statistical information about the quality of life in Iraq. Although the information is about a year out of date, the information is presented so that you can compare all of the nations that are surveyed.

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