Miriam Durani

Bad news never takes a break. Just as the Palestinian-Israeli conflict lost some of its heat, the issue of a U.S. attack against Saddam Hussein's regime has risen from the grave yet again and is back with one hell of a vengeance.

The American government is positioning for a preemptive attack against Iraq. U.S. troops in Turkey and Italy have been put on alert. This is serious business, folks.

Of course, the American perspective is very easy to understand for many of us. After last year's horrific attacks, our guard is up double time and rightly so. We must never allow a monster like Sept. 11 to sneak up on the United States again. And in all honesty, I believe most politicians are working to protect Americans from any future terrorist activity. The crooked men in the administration might have many reasons to get involved in the Middle East ÷ oil, power, money, etc.

There are three concise reasons I was able to identify why we would want to attack Iraq. First, our government believes Iraq had a part to play in funding the World Trade Center attacks. Second, we have sufficient proof that Iraq possesses weapons of mass destruction and suspiciously, the Iraqi government has been evading U.N. arms inspectors for years. Lastly, the family feud of Bush senior and Hussein has been passed down to Georgie, and the male ego is a terrible ogre.

Illustration by Cody Angell

Moving on, let's take a look at the flip side of the coin: How do Iraq and other countries in the world feel about a U.S. strike? Iraqi Vice President Taha Ramadan has said that Iraq is prepared to defend itself and is taking this threat very seriously. He also said that a U.S. attack on Iraq would be an attack against "all Arab nations."

Iraqi government is playing an important sympathy card here to get many of the Arab people in support of Iraq. After the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan and the innocent killings of thousands of civilians, there is a very sour taste in the mouth of the Muslim world. Add to that a growing trend of racism against Muslims and you have hatred burning brighter than before.

Syria has the idea that perhaps the reason the United States is so eager to get puppet regimes set up in Iraq is so the United States and Israel can have more power over that conflict in the Middle East. Also, there is a growing belief that the United States wants its own portion of the gigantic oil business in the Middle East and attacking Iraq will help the Texacos and 76s of America get a piece of the oily pie.

Nations such as Egypt, China, India and Germany have voiced opposition to this attack, saying that many innocent civilians will lose their lives. Our past ally, Saudi Arabia, is adamant against attacks against Iraq until all other options have been exhausted. "There is no country in the world that I know of that supports military action against Iraq at this time," said Adel Al-Jubeir, a foreign policy adviser to the Saudi kingdom. If there was to be a war, many indications exist signaling it will be in the streets of Baghdad, which implies mass casualties on both sides.

Also significant to note is how the men and women who will be fighting feel about this situation. Retired U.S. General Anthony Zinni and other generals in the armed forces feel it is important to simmer the conflicts between Palestine and Israel before we go making "more enemies in the region."

International concerns are important, but national support is even more so. Vice President Cheney has said that Bush will seek support ÷ but not permission ÷ from Congress. "Congress has to be a partner, not necessarily in deciding when to act, but to support the President," said Senator John Warner of Virginia. U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Tuesday that the final decision on whether to attack Iraq will be based on leadership, not consensus, despite growing public anxiety about the prospect of war. He said history has shown that when the United States makes right decisions, "other countries do cooperate and they do participate."

So what happens now? Where does all this leave us? I guess we wait because apparently, it doesn't matter what Americans think.

We'll go to war with Iraq because Bush knows best.