The rehabilitation of Saddam

With the passage of the 10th anniversary of the Gulf War, the "time heals all wounds" axiom appears to be very much in play insofar as the isolation of Iraq is concerned. Only this week, a front page editorial in the leading Kuwaiti newspaper called for an end to sanctions against Saddam Hussein's Iraq -- despite the fact Kuwait was the victim of seven months of brutal occupation that led to the Gulf War in the first place.

The Kuwaiti argument has merit -- the sanctions against Iraq hit the man on the street the hardest. Consequently, the sanctions actually work to strengthen Saddam's hold on power by providing a shared enemy in the form of the United States.

There were 34 nations involved in the coalition to remove Saddam from Kuwait. Ten years later, the "coalition" consists in fact of just two countries, Britain and the United States.

The U.N. sanction regime has lost its legitimacy; what was the collective will of the planet in 1991 is widely viewed today as ancient history kept alive by the obstinacy of just two Western nations.

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In the past year, a number of countries have openly violated the U.N. sanction regime, testing the waters to see what would happen. Nothing did.

France and Russia defied the U.N. by resuming air flights into Iraq. The U.N. said nothing. The U.S. said little and did nothing. Both nations continue to actively campaign for the lifting of sanctions.

Last August, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez became the first head of state to visit Iraq since the Gulf War.

Last week, Egypt openly concluded a free trade agreement with Iraq.

Syria and Iran -- both long-time sworn enemies of Saddam -- are each entertaining Iraqi diplomats and discussing future cooperation.

The real reason that the U.N. sanctions remain in place is largely ignored. Under the terms of the existing U.N. resolutions, sanctions cannot be lifted until U.N. inspectors report that Iraq has surrendered all weapons of mass destruction.

The reason sanctions remain is because Saddam won't allow the inspection because he doesn't want to give up the weapons. It's as simple -- and as potentially lethal -- as that.

Iraq has built up an impressive arsenal of chemical and biological weapons, despite the efforts of the U.N. inspection teams over the years. In his arsenal are anthrax spores, VX gas, botulinim toxin and sarin gas in quantities sufficient to kill every human being on the planet, if he had the delivery system to use it all.

It takes one billionth of a gram of anthrax to be lethal. VX, an odorless, colorless, water-like liquid that turns into gas on contact with oxygen is so deadly that 10 milligrams guarantees a slow painful death.

Botulinim toxin kills relatively slowly, taking as long as three days for the first symptoms; death follows soon after. One billionth of a gram is all it takes. Saddam has more than 5,400 gallons of this deadly stuff.

In spite of knowing all this, there remain countries willing to risk leaving non-conventional weapons in the hands of the madman of the Middle East if that's what it takes to get the sanctions lifted and Iraq open for business.

Iran is already an outlaw; it would rather risk a non-conventionally armed Saddam next door than appear to be caving in to the U.N. And Iraq is one of the few countries it can do business with thanks to sanctions still imposed on Tehran 20 years after the hostage crisis.

That's what the rehabilitation of Saddam Hussein is all about -- business. Saddam needs weapons and supplies; Russia and China have all he needs -- and they need Iraqi oil.

Saddam needs Western goods. France has them to sell. And Paris also wants to exploit an oil pipeline project running through the middle of Iraq, so sanctions are, shall we say, inconvenient?

So, for a variety of reasons, many members of the coalition would prefer to forget there ever was a coalition and forget all about the agreements that ended the Gulf War.

Saddam has managed to retain his non-conventional weapons in incredible quantities. Israel, of course, is always at the top of his hit list. The United States stands second on the Muslim terrorist's hit list. Saddam already proved that reluctance to use these horrible weapons on humanitarian grounds is not a factor. He used them on both the Iraqi Kurds and against the Iranians.

In the days leading up to the inauguration of President Bush, Saddam grew increasingly belligerent. There is no question that he, along with a number of other regional tyrants, will test President Bush's resolve toward standing for Israel's survival. The whole area is ripe for conflict. All Saddam and the other radical Muslim regimes need is the perception that they can attack and destroy Israel before outside assistance can intervene.

It is almost impossible for the Western mind to really understand how much Saddam hates Israel. To understand why the animosity between Arab and Jew remains as white hot today as it was four thousand years ago, I recommend reading Joan Peters’ book, "From Time Immemorial." It will help you develop a solid background understanding of the dynamics at play in what is today the most volatile flashpoint on the planet.

With that background, you would instantly recognize that the most dangerous signal coming from this area is the acceptance of Saddam back into the fold of the Muslim nations that are bent upon Israel's destruction. When former enemies within the Muslim world of the Middle East welcome back into the brotherhood a rogue member like Iraq, it is a sure fire signal that an attack on Israel is being considered. Common hatred of Israel is the one single unifying factor that can bring together these nations that so often attack each other.

Don't look now, but this is exactly the way Israel's ancient prophets foresaw the events of the Last Days.