Let's Get Real about Iraq: Bush Should Drop All but Military Sanctions-And Treat Saddam as the Second-Rate Thug He Truly Is

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America's policy toward Iraq is a mess. Everyone in Washington seems to realize this, and yet few have the courage to change it. During the presidential campaign the Bush team criticized President Clinton's approach to the problem as bankrupt. But now that they are in office, the Bush folks seem content to pursue the same patchwork of positions that has so far yielded only failure. They have initiated a volley of airstrikes, talked of "energizing sanctions," called for the return of U.N. arms inspectors into Iraq and increased funding for the Iraqi opposition. In other words, more of the same.

Washington is clinging to the carcass of a policy that has lost all effectiveness. The economic sanctions have impoverished Iraq while doing nothing to dislodge Saddam Hussein. We …