Nobody wants to read another editorial about Iraq, but when David Letterman sees fit to make commentary on the situation, it’s time for another look.
During last Friday’s opening monologue, whether spurred by a realization that Conan’s much funnier or because of plain ol’ nationalistic fervour, Letterman saw a golden opportunity to justify the use of U.S. military force against Hussein.
He said although God’s America was ready to go-go-go and oust the mustachioed rascal, other countries, including France, are holding back, waiting for more proof of weapons treaty infractions. Here was the zinger, paraphrased: “The last time the French waited for more proof, it marched through Paris with a German flag.” Not a bad joke, to be fair, and it certainly had the studio audience on their feet, hootin’ and hollerin.’ It’s pretty clear, though, where the factual flaw in Letterman’s punchline lay. It wasn’t a German flag that paraded under the Arc de Triomphe midway though the Big Show; it was the swastika. If you were to suggest to the average German that their black, red and gold was the banner flown above the crematorium at Bergen-Belsen, you’d have a pretty pissed-off Berliner on your hands. American foreign policy has a convenient way of tarring loosely-affiliated regimes with the same brush; while the Nazi flag/German flag comparison may just be a factual slipup, that kind of stereotyping pervades the American political consciousness far deeper than Deadeye Dick would like to admit.
Yes, Hussein is a scoundrel. Yes, he’s a mass murderer and yes, he gassed the Kurds and flung poison-tipped (or so he claimed) Scuds at the Israelis. But he certainly isn’t marching into Poland, with the Luftwaffe in the works.
Even though it’s clear Saddam is no Hitler, Colin Powell is spending a heck of a lot of time down at the Security Council, prodding Annan and the boys into ramping up the international war machine. Those machined aluminum tubes may be rotors for centrifuges used to enrich fissile materials, and they may not be, but golly gee, why wait to find out?
Now is not the time, Mr. Powell, to dance at the precipice of war with the proverbial ants in your pants. Sure, Saddam may threaten American interests—which are certainly your responsibility to protect—but for God’s sake, let’s exercise a little more restraint when so many lives are at stake. There’s a good, careful man on the job—his name is Hans Blix, by the way—and he knows what he’s doing. So if he wants a bit more time, please, let him have it. Know the old saying, “An ounce of prevention,” et cetera, et cetera? It never did anybody any harm to be careful.
