Revised Perspective

To the Editor:

At the request of several individuals I’ve decided to take this opportunity to clarify my remarks when I was quoted in Oct. 11, 2001 issue of the Review.
To restate my position, if Winston Churchill were alive today I believe he would be in support of George W. Bush and the pre-emptive strike doctrine. Indeed, Winston Churchill made it a point to purchase a copy of Mein Kampf soon after it was published in order to get into the mind of the author. As early as 1930 he warned those who would listen —and there weren’t many—that Adolf Hitler, with a revamped military and fervent nationalis, would eventually drag Europe into yet another World War. I don’t have the time or space here, but I would encourage the curious individual to read The Last Lion by William Manchester and The Wilderness Years by Martin Gilbert for some very interesting quotes, some of which could easily be taken out of today’s newspapers.
Returning to the present, it is true that Saddam Hussein hasn’t yet committed an outright attack on the United States or its interests. However, it (and Saudi Arabia as well) has raised money for the families of suicide bombers. In addition, anybody who takes a hard look at the evidence coming from defectors, surveillance photography, regional contacts and even his own family would know that the biggest problem in Iraq is a leadership that has WMD and is either biding his time to use them, or is outright trying to sell them to others who will. In addition, the leadership has long been in contempt/material breach of numerous UN Security Council Resolutions.
In the end, I believe, a strong comparison could be easily made to another country that shook off a war-ending treaty (which it had signed in the presence of others), then began to arm itself in order to restore itself to “greatness”.

–Miguel Villafana
College senior