‘Conflict with Iraq,’ a discussion regarding American involvement with Iraq, attempted to help Boston University students understand the situation and give them the opportunity to ask questions concerning the conflict yesterday.
Held at the Hyatt Regency Cambridge and sponsored by the Student Activities Organization, the session drew approximately 20 students and featured international relations professor Michael Corgan, Department Chair Erik Goldstein, and BU Center for International Relations Director Andrew Bacevich.
The panel began by discussing the recent United Nations resolution aimed at disarming Iraq, which was unanimously rejected by the Iraqi Parliament yesterday.
‘The security resolution represents a compromise between what the U.S. wanted and what France and Russia wanted,’ Corgan said.
He outlined the basic articles of the resolution, which finds Iraq in ‘material breach’ of previous contracts and calls for Iraq to admit United Nations weapons inspectors within 30 days to allow for a full report on Iraq’s weapon reserves. If Iraq does not permit the resolution’s requests to take place, the United Nations warned, Iraq ‘will face serious consequences as a result of its continued violations of its obligations.’
‘Nobody ever uses the word ‘war’ in an U.N. resolution, but that’s what they’re talking about,’ Corgan said.
Goldstein reflected upon the ‘extremely volatile’ history of the region, which dates back to the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, and the circumstances of the creation of Iraq.
‘Iraq was designed after World War II to meet British needs, and therefore there are some in-built instabilities within the state,’ Goldstein said.
He also disagreed with reports that Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden are associated in any way.
‘There have been lots of efforts to make a connection between the two, but they loathe each other,’ Goldstein said. ‘It may be a convenience of the moment to have the two inter-linked, but it simply is not true.’
According to Goldstein, Iraq’s relations with bordering neighbors are absolutely abysmal, which might be of service to the United States in a war.
‘If a war were to happen, key states could be involved such as Turkey or Britain,’ Goldstein said.
Bacevich discussed the options of Iraq in reviewing the resolution passed by the United Nations. Despite the Parliament’s rejection, he said the ultimate authority rests with Hussein.
‘It seems to me that they have three choices,’ Bacevich said. ‘They can submit fully and disarm. A second option for Saddam is to endorse the view of the Parliament and reject the resolution. Or they could accept and resist, play a game of cat-and-mouse and see how long that would be drawn out.
‘In my point of view, the object of the exercise for the administration is to provoke a crisis through which the U.S. will achieve regime change and remove Saddam,’ he said. ‘Bush is intent on this regime change and his administration is committed because they think it is the prerequisite for fulfilling the strategy needed to win the war on terrorism.’
He also said he believed regime change in Iraq would be the beginning for an international war on terrorism.
‘Iraq opens up a decisive theater of war, narrowly the Arab world but more broadly the world of Islam,’ Bacevich said. ‘This is about the beginning process of transforming this part of the world so it will not be the source of people who hate us and start these attacks.
‘Fixing Iraq puts the U.S. in a position to fix Saudi Arabia, fix Egypt, fix the region,’ Bacevich said.
After the professors had presented their views, the audience was invited to pose questions. Students inquired about Israel’s stance, Saudi hijackers and the role of oil in the conflict.
‘It’s important to keep informed about current issues,’ said Allison Laskey, a College of Arts and Sciences freshman. ‘The debate gave me ideas and was very informative.’
Pavan Sekhar, a CAS senior, said he was looking for answers about where the administration was heading with this dispute.
‘It’s in the news, in the papers, since the end of the Cold War, this area is the hot spot of the world, where everyone’s looking,’ Sekhar said. ‘It’s sometimes hard to get a clear grasp of what’s going on, and I figured I’d get the viewpoints of the experts.’
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