Public Enemy No. 3

The US has bigger worries than Saddam Hussein.

by Dan Radmacher

Saddam Hussein is not America's public enemy No. 1.

Osama bin Laden clearly holds that position.

Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda -- as strong as it ever was, according to continued dire warnings from the FBI, CIA and others -- struck the cruelest blow against America in half a century. By all accounts, that terrorist organization is primed to do it again, within days or weeks.

Saddam Hussein is not America's public enemy No. 2. North Korea's dictator Kim Jong Il is in that seat.

North Korea has a missile capable of reaching the Western coast of the United States. And Kim Jong Il is busy enriching uranium to build nuclear weapons to put on top of that missile.

I am not even certain that a good case could be made for Saddam Hussein as America's public enemy No. 3.

Think about it. America is worried about a third-rate army still smarting from a decade-old defeat? Not just worried, actually, but obsessed. We're massing a huge concentration of troops and warships and preparing to loose an unprecedented barrage of cruise missiles against a nation that can't even begin to feed itself, much less equip and train an army.

Saddam may have biological and chemical weapons. He does not have, and is not close to achieving, construction of a nuclear weapon. And he has no delivery system capable of reaching our shores.

Despite Secretary of State Colin Powell's best efforts to link Saddam Hussein to al-Qaeda, evidence was presented of only one terrorist cell possibly operating within Iraq. There is no evidence that al-Qaeda operates there with the sanction of the Iraqi government.

I can guarantee that there are more terrorist training camps operating within the borders of our ally Pakistan -- with Pakistani knowledge and tacit approval -- than there are in Iraq.

Did I mention that Pakistan is also an acknowledged member of the nuclear club?

For that matter, according to the FBI and CIA, there are more al-Qaeda cells operating in the United States than in Iraq.

A war with Iraq will probably cost in the neighborhood of $200 billion. That expenditure will do little to enhance our security. In fact, many experts believe that the show of American imperialism will inflame radical Islam and result in a greater terrorist threat.

Though seemingly eager to spend that sum, President George W. Bush is withholding funds for homeland security measures such as harbor patrols and radiation monitoring, presumably so he can afford yet another tax cut for the rich.

The Bush administration held up $600 million in spending for critical port security, border security, firefighting, law enforcement, nuclear security and other homeland defense programs, but is pushing for approval of a $650 billion tax cut.

Go figure.

This rush to attack Iraq would make some sense if there were an actual, provable link between Saddam and 9/11. And some people mistakenly assume that the tenuous link that Powell has tried to establish between Iraq and al-Qaeda means that Saddam Hussein was involved in and contributed to the horrific attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

No such evidence has been offered. I would be absolutely shocked if it existed. If such a smoking gun did exist, Bush would have produced it long ago, because it would have ended any and all debate about the necessity to go to war with Iraq. Powell's recent presentation before the United Nations would have been totally unnecessary.

Any rational prioritization of threats facing the United States at this moment would place Saddam Hussein fairly far down the list. The awful attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, have given this action an unreasonable, and perhaps unstoppable, momentum.

Osama bin Laden is the only insane individual bent on the destruction of our nation who has the actual potential to realize his goal. And, though we have pushed Saddam and bin Laden into the same corner, they are far from natural allies.

In the recent tape purportedly made by bin Laden and offered by Powell as evidence of an Iraqi-al-Qaeda partnership, bin Laden calls Saddam's ruling party a bunch of "infidels," and suggests it would be no great loss if Saddam were killed.

North Korea is the nuclear power that released a poster depicting the U.S. Capitol being blown apart by a missile.

Iraq, like North Korea, can be contained with diplomatic efforts. This war, with all the damage it will do to U.S. interests around the world, is unnecessary and irrational.

Dan Radmacher is the editorial page editor of the Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette, where this article first appeared. If you would like to respond to this Slant or have one of your own (850 words), contact Howard Altman, City Paper executive editor, 123 Chestnut St., third floor, Phila., PA 19106 or e-mail altman@citypaper.net.