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Last January, a solemn President Bush stunned the world by labeling Iraq – together with Iran and North Korea – an "axis of evil." Was the phrase a welcome dose of moral clarity, or a simplistic, black-and-white worldview? Pundits and world leaders remain divided on the question, but the past 12 months have proved the designation to be no mere rhetorical gambit.
Indeed, that speech accelerated a process that seems to be bringing the United States and Iraq toward the cusp of war. For now, the battle is limited to diplomatic wrangling at the United Nations over whether Iraq has complied with a UN resolution demanding full disarmament of weapons of mass destruction. The Bush administration says Saddam Hussein is an armed tyrant and must go. President Bush's resolve was forged in the crucible of Sept. 11. But is determination enough to disarm a dictator?
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April 2: Iraqi funds, training fuel Islamic terror group
"The US Operation Anaconda has squeezed many Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters out of Afghanistan, but some of those forces are simply joining a budding conflict nearby, in Iraq, local security officials warn.
Ansar al-Islam, a Kurdish Islamic extremist group that has shaken Northern Iraq with bloody episodes of killing over the past 14 months, is being bolstered by the American rout of Osama bin Laden's diehards at Shah-e Kot, Afghanistan. ...While Ansar is gaining strength in numbers, new information is emerging that ties the organization to both Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network and to Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein." |
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September 13: Bush gives UN an ultimatum
"President Bush's message to the United Nations regarding Iraq appears to be this: Either you enforce UN resolutions against Saddam Hussein's misbehavior, or I will.
In his historic speech to the opening of the General Assembly on Thursday, Mr. Bush did not so much seek to sell delegates on the dangers posed by Iraq as challenge them to live up to their own past actions. He made clear that the US is prepared to act on Iraq with few friends if necessary." |
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September 20: Is war on Iraq inevitable?
"In Washington, the steady din of the Bush administration's sword-rattling may be obscuring the fact that possibilities remain for the United States and Iraq to settle their differences without going to war.
...There is a narrow opening – a very narrow opening – through which peace might crawl. Such a solution might depend crucially on two things: Hussein's recognition of the hopelessness of any resistance, and an administration determination that weapons inspectors truly had the run of Iraq. ...If Iraq truly allows weapons inspections without constraint, war might be avoided." |
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October 2: Anti-war voices rise, but with a twist
"From Washington to Rome and from London to Sydney, the peace signs, the antiwar slogans, and the chants that rallied hundreds of thousands of demonstrators against an invasion of Iraq last weekend recalled protests against the Vietnam War, or against US nuclear missiles in Europe 20 years ago.
But behind the increasingly vocal worldwide warnings about an invasion of Iraq lies not so much a resurgent peace movement as a fear America will try to depose Saddam Hussein alone. If Washington waits for United Nations approval for an attack, opinion polls in many countries show that American troops would actually enjoy considerable international public support." |
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October 16: Is it all about oil?
"Oil - a commodity synonymous with wealth and power for a century - could be the great prize of a new US war with Iraq.
Not that you'd know that from listening to most recent Washington rhetoric. President George W. Bush doesn't mention it when making his case for confrontation with Saddam Hussein. Does this amount to a conspiracy of silence over US plans to seize millions of barrels of petroleum? There's scant evidence for that charge, which is heard frequently overseas." |
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October 23: The brains behind Iraq's arsenal
"As the US and United Nations wrangle over a new inspection regime, former weapons inspectors warn against becoming preoccupied hunting for missiles, bombs, and laboratories – and instead focusing more on finding Iraq's top weapons experts.
...One irony is that if inspectors do locate any of the bombmakers, a translator may not be necessary. That's because many in Hussein's weapons-development brain trust apparently got their training at universities in the US, Britain, and Europe." |
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October 31: Iraq: unsanctioned voices
"Over lamb chops in a busy Baghdad restaurant, Ahmed looks around nervously, falling silent when anyone comes close enough to listen.
'If you are arrested,' Ahmed says, 'your life is over.' Ahmed is no subversive. 'That is not my character,' he says. But he does resist quietly, carving out a small circle of freedom in which his family and a few friends can say what they really think about Iraq's 'beloved leader.'" |
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November 12: The shape of an Iraq invasion
"Waging another war against Iraq "won't be tougher" than last time, predicts [Lt. Col. Stephen] Twitty, commander of a Kuwait-bound heavy infantry battalion. 'Our capability is much stronger than theirs. We would be successful.'
Such confidence, widespread in the American military, underpins a bold US war plan that envisions ending the rule of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein with speed, precision strikes, and – above all – the shock of an overwhelming force. The Pentagon is leaving no doubt that it is poised to execute the plan should Mr. Hussein fail to comply with a tough new UN disarmament resolution." |
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December 5: Inspecting Iraq: No trouble yet
"...After a week of inspections, including visits to 20 sites, both Baghdad and Washington are finding different reasons to question the seriousness of the [inspectors'] effort.
...UN officials reply that it's too soon for either side to be drawing such conclusions. Only 17 inspectors are working in Iraq. UN facilities here are in disrepair, lab equipment is still being shipped in, and another 80 inspectors aren't expected to arrive until the end of December. Most inspection visits have been to old sites previously surveyed in the 1990s." |