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Iraq's weapons of mass destruction have been destroyed and Iraq is not a military threatEx-weapons inspector Scott Ritter wrote, "… From a qualitative standpoint, Iraq has in fact been disarmed... The chemical, biological, nuclear and long-range ballistic missile programs that were a real threat in 1991 had, by 1998, been destroyed or rendered harmless." [Boston Globe op-ed (3/9/00)]“Iraq today is no longer a military threat to anyone. Intelligence agencies know this. All the conjectures about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq lack evidence.†[Hans von Sponeck, UN humanitarian coordinator, 29 May 2001]
 Attacking Iraq will not reduce that threat of terrorist attacks on the United StatesAlthough the current military action planned against Iraq is being pursued as part of the war on terrorism, the Administration has presented no evidence that Iraq is supporting or harboring terrorists.The War on Terrorism is a war against independent militia groups and individuals, not entire nations. We must apprehend and try these terrorists in international tribunals, not destroy whole nations or depose the leaders of these countries.Addressing the long-term grievances against the United States that give rise to terrorist attacks (such as the sanctions on Iraq, U.S. bases in Saudi Arabia, and the Israeli/Palestinian conflict) will lead to long-term peace. Fighting wars against nations will increase underlying anger at the United States and increase our risk for terrorist attacks.
 Iraq WILL allow weapons inspectors:Rather than working in good faith to reintroduce UN inspectors as a means to disarm Iraq and lift sanctions, the administration appears to be (once again) using UN inspections as a trigger for a U.S. military assault -- this time intent on removing Saddam Hussein from power. In a Feb. 13 analysis, David E. Sanger of the New York Times asserts that the Bush team plans to create an inspection crisis between now and May. They would then use the crisis as proof that Iraq is hiding weapons of mass destruction, and use Iraqi resistance to justify more forceful action."A team of nuclear experts is due to arrive in Baghdad for an annual inspection of Iraq's uranium stockpiles." [CNN.com, January 25, 2002]"Iraq will still need to allow the return of 687 inspectors before sanctions can be lifted. This, of course, means the US and the UN would have to be willing to run a legitimate inspection program, and also be willing to allow sanctions to be lifted -- per UN resolutions --once a clean bill of health was issued. Given the US policy of removing Saddam, this seems highly unlikely at this time." [Scott Ritter, former chief of the Concealment Investigations Unit for the UN Special Commission on Iraq.]
 The costs of war are felt at homeThe national military budget now reaches $437 billion, which is 26% of the total federal budget. At the same time, federal funding for many U.S. domestic departments are being cut by as much as 10%, undercutting a variety of social and educational programs.Every minute the United States spends another $589,802 on the military, 51.3% of the discretionary federal budget. [Center for Defense Information]“A country that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.†Martin Luther King, April 4, 1967, Riverside Church, New York City
 As for the people of Iraq ...During the Gulf War five years ago, the U.S. destroyed Iraq's infrastructure and killed 250,000 people in 42 days. [Vietnam Veterans Against the War]Under the 88,500 tons of bombs (the equivalent of seven Hiroshimas) that followed the launch of the air campaign on January 17, 1991, and the ground attack that followed, fully 150,000 Iraqi troops and 50,000 civilians were killed. [Z-Magazine, David Edwards, February 28, 2002]International opposition to an attack on Iraq"The United States is preparing to destroy the regime of Saddam Hussein. The timetable is flexible but will be dictated by America's strategic and military readiness and by nothing else, certainly not by righteous whisperings from Brussels to Berlin. The goal is fixed." ('To Free Iraq Blair must prepare party and country for military action,' the Times, February 15, 2002)"There is not a single Arab country which backs a recourse to force against Iraq, and all are preoccupied by the lot of the Iraqi people." [Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, November 10, 2001]"...Any attack on Iraq at this stage would be unwise." [UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, February 25, 2002]"Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that the United States had no basis to extend the war against terrorism to Iraq." [Judith Ingram, Associated Press Writer, Feb 14,2002]
