January 18, 1999

We Must Continue to Inspect in Iraq

The United States needs to act with speed and clarity in dealing with the ongoing crisis in Iraq. Bombing and shelling from afar is not going to work. It will merely give rise to more rhetoric about the "cowardice" of the United States in lobbying weapons of destruction on an innocent civilian population and it will not serve to carry out the much needed inspection and supervision of Iraqi weapons facilities. The bombings play into the hands of those who wish to paint a negative picture of the commitment and capabilities of the United States.

I believe that we have an important opportunity to send the world a clear message concerning both our resolution and power, and to indicate that our concern is directed against the military machine of Saddam Hussein, not against the Iraqi people. We should announce that either the Iraqi government agrees to cooperate in carrying out a full inspection of facilities, or we will do so unilaterally if our deadline is not met. By unilateral inspection I mean that we select one of the many weapons manufacturing facilities in Iraq, preferably away from a dense civilian population and carry out an airborne landing, capturing the facility, establishing a defense perimeter around the facility and placing sufficient troops and equipment on the ground to take control. After the inspection is complete, we should destroy any production or facility that is in violation of the inspection and leave.

The United States has prided itself on our ability to carry out decisive special operations. Bv merely carrying out our duties for the inspection of Iraqi war preparation we will be able to give our special operations capabilities a much needed operational test while signaling to the world that our resolve to control the war making capability of Iraq is real. Furthermore our willingness to risk casualties on the ground and the realities of ground combat would be there for the world to see. A quick competent and resolute strike could easily generate no United States casualties whatsoever, or causalities comparable to a day or two of traffic accidents aroun4 New York. The message delivered to the world would be clearer and cleaner than daily bombardment and discourse on smart weapons. It would demonstrate, resolution, capability, command and constraint.

Martin Shubik, Seymour Knox Professor of Mathematical Institutional Economics, Yale University, New Haven.