Ten years after an allied coalition led by George W. Bush's father
devastated his armed forces, Saddam Hussein is making trouble
again.
Since the U.S. election, Saddam has been threatening a holy war
against Israel. On Dec. 31, Iraq staged the biggest show of
military force since the 1991 Gulf war. Saddam stood on the
reviewing stand firing a rifle into the air during a four-hour
military parade as more than 1,000 Russian-made tanks, artillery,
infantry units and new surface-to-surface and surface-to-air
missiles rolled by, with jet fighters and 60 helicopter gunships
flying overhead.
This followed last month's parade in Baghdad by nearly 2 million
Iraqis eager to fight against Israel, in response to a call by Saddam
for volunteers to wage a holy war to "liberate Palestine." On Dec.
31, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak said Israel is in a state of
strategic alert facing the possibility of war. As terrorists attack
Israelis, the fear is that radical Palestinians will roll out their
cache of machine guns and mortars to increase the carnage, and
have artillery support from the heavily armed Hezballah in
southern Lebanon.
Saddam Hussein is using the situation to try to foment a new Arab
war against Israel. In a Jan. 6 television address, he announced
establishment of a military command for the special forces he
created to support a Palestinian revolt. He also announced
deployment of the Republican Guard's Hamorabi tank division
toward the Jordanian border. With a population that is more than
half Palestinian, Jordan would have trouble preventing Iraqi
"volunteers" from crossing its soil to fight a war against Israel.
The Iraqi military parade showed off new and improved weapons
and equipment. The well-dressed troops wore uniforms and boots
imported from Syria, while new Mercedes and Renault trucks
reportedly imported under the U.N. oil-for-food program were
used to carry troops and tow artillery. The 1,000 tanks on display,
with new engines and parts from Ukraine, showed Saddam has
been able to modernize his military despite the U.N. sanctions.
New Russian-made SAM-8 and SAM-9 surface-to-air missiles
were shown, as were several new models of surface-to-surface
missiles. One missile was described by Iraqi television as similar
to the banned al-Hussein missiles that "we rained down on the
Jews" in the Gulf war, and which Saddam said had all been
destroyed. Ominously, a chemical weapons unit marched with the
missiles, underscoring that there have been no inspections of
Iraq's missile, nuclear and chemical weapons programs since
Saddam threw out the U.N. inspectors more than three years ago.
This display of missiles comes just weeks after Khidir Hamza, a
top nuclear adviser to Saddam Hussein until his defection in 1994,
revealed that Iraq is dangerously close to producing nuclear
weapons. In remarks made on Dec. 8, Hamza said Iraq is
continuing its nuclear weapons program. Baghdad has solved
most of the engineering problems, he said, and only needs a
source of enriched uranium to produce nuclear bombs. He
complained that "the whole world" is playing down the threat.
It would be reckless to ignore Saddam's calls for a holy war
against Israel. After all, he invaded Iran in 1980 and Kuwait in
1990. Now, with the son of his old adversary moving into the
White House and Dick Cheney and Colin Powell, who prosecuted
the war against him 10 years ago, becoming vice president and
secretary of state, Saddam has a greater incentive than ever to
cause trouble for the United States.
Two years ago Congress passed the Iraq Liberation Act
authorizing assistance to groups opposed to Saddam Hussein's
regime, but the Clinton administration has given little more than
lip service to Saddam's opposition. The Bush administration
should move quickly to reverse that policy, and send a message
that any new aggression by Saddam will meet the same kind of
opposition it did 10 years ago.
Steps should be taken to protect U.S. forces and allies in the
Middle East. The new Patriot PAC-3 missile interceptor should be
moved from its current low-rate production into full-scale
production without delay, so it can be sent to defend U.S. forces
and bases in the area. This advanced-capability Patriot also should
be offered for sale to U.S. allies, to help them defend themselves
against the growing numbers of tactical missiles in both Iraq and
Iran.
For example, PAC-3 would be a valuable complement to Israel's
Arrow interceptor, providing a better defense of key facilities than
the existing Desert Storm-era PAC-2s. Deployment of both the
new Patriot and the planned National Missile Defense would
reduce the value of ballistic missiles and could help discourage
their proliferation.
It is better to send a clear warning that aggression will be stopped
than to try to stop it after it occurs. The new administration should
make U.S. intentions crystal-clear to Iraq.
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