Busted Halo feature: politics & culture February 28th, 2002
Should the U.S. Attack Iraq?   Will we ever know why the elder
and younger Presidents Bush have such a fervent obsession with
toppling Iraq?  Morally, can the United States government
justify making war on the people of Iraq on the grounds that it
possesses weapons of mass destruction when the U.S. is the only
nation ever to have used the atomic bomb?  It all comes down to
the laying out of a solid premise.  Every dramatist is familiar
with premise. It’s the foundation of all good drama. It’s a
surefire way of building something from nothing and having
people buy into it. A solid premise can always be made into a
well-made play. And a solid premise can always sell a war to the
public.  So which premise is at play with the U.S. plan to
invade Iraq and topple Saddam Hussein?  Here’s the premise as I
see it right now: “Iraq is willing to use weapons of mass
destruction to destroy its enemies.”  However, the Gulf War
proved that we are as capable of usi