Let be there be no doubt: Iraq supports terrorists
By STEVE WINN
The Kansas City Star
If administration officials can directly tie Iraq to al-Qaida, it seems odd that they waited until this week to release much information on the subject. So some skepticism on this point is understandable.
Less understandable, however, is that so many Americans remain confused about whether Iraq’s Saddam Hussein supports any terrorism.
Of course he does. It’s a matter of public record.
Yet many people continue to ask for the proof. Others — including former Vice President Al Gore, who should know better — talk as though dealing with Iraq would somehow be a distraction from the war on international terror.
Perhaps Gore and these other skeptics missed the story last month about the death of Abu Nidal, the Palestinian psychopath who was responsible for airport massacres and other atrocities in recent decades.
The story about Nidal’s demise arrived from Iraq because — drum roll, please — that’s where he was living. He had an apartment in Baghdad, where he had been enjoying Hussein’s protection from an angry world.
Then there’s the fact that the Iraqi regime has openly financed the Palestinian bombing campaign against Israel. This has been widely reported.
Earlier this year, for example, The Associated Press reported on a conference in which Iraq decided to increase its payments to the relatives of suicide bombers to $25,000, up from $10,000.
This is a story, by the way, that also seems to have been missed by those who are still trying to pin the blame for all of the poverty, hunger and disease in Iraq on international economic sanctions.
Those sanctions allow Iraq to use its oil money for necessities like food and medicine. Hussein, however, would rather use the money for other things — like inducing addled teen-agers to turn themselves into human bombs.
III
Here’s a quick pop quiz for the college students around the country who are clamoring to punish Israel for everything that has gone wrong for the Palestinians:
1. Why wasn’t a Palestinian state set up after the United Nations endorsed the idea in 1947?
Answer: Surrounding Arab countries invaded Palestine and seized the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. For the next two decades they refused to set up a Palestinian state.
2. How did Israel come into possession of the “occupied territories”?
Answer: Arab countries, led by Egypt, threatened the Jewish state again in 1967. Ignoring urgent pleas from the Israeli government, Jordan attacked Israel at the start of the Six-Day War. Israel moved into the West Bank and Gaza as it forced the Arab armies away from its borders.
3. What is the one country in the Middle East that has credibly offered the Palestinians a state of their own?
Answer: Israel. During the Camp David talks two years ago, it supported the American plan to establish such a state on the West Bank, Gaza and in parts of Jerusalem. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat refused, reportedly claiming other Arabs would kill him if he agreed.
For extra credit, some students might want to review the history of anti-Semitism; blaming the Jews for everything that’s wrong in the world is a very old and disreputable game.
III
On the domestic front, conservatives who hope for more tax cuts are again trying to downplay the significance of the latest federal debt projections. According to them, red ink really isn’t so terrible — and might even be a good thing.
The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page, for example, recently offered this pearl of fiscal wisdom from Charles W. Calomiris, a professor of finance and economics at Columbia Business School:
“… an expansion in deficits also helps to keep growth-reducing government expenditure in check, which translates into lower debt.”
Huh? By borrowing more money each year, you can reduce your total debt?
If that’s the kind of math they’re teaching in business school these days, no wonder so many companies are in trouble.
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Steve Winn is the deputy editorial page editor of the Kansas City Star. The Media Line Ltd., thanks Mr. Winn and the Star for permission to post his article. [Ed.]