Here's another editorial from the Buffalo News. Buffalo seems to be quite a progressive city....
Tuesday, December 10, 2002
The evidence against Iraq
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bush will soon have to reveal what evidence he has about Saddam's weapons
12/7/2002
Over the next few weeks, push may come to shove. Iraq says it will declare to the United Nations today its inventory of weapons of mass destruction, one day before the deadline set by the United Nations. American officials insist it will be a dishonest document, one that can produce only two possible consequences: the exile of Saddam Hussein or war. The Bush administration says it knows this because it has evidence that Saddam possesses such weapons, and that it is sure the Iraqi dictator will not acknowledge them. So far, though, it is secret evidence - an envelope in the suit pocket that administration officials frequently mention but haven't actually produced. The time is coming.
Americans vested a lot of trust in the president as he turned up the pressure on Saddam. By and large, they gave him the popular backing he needs to force this issue. So did Congress, which provided him broad authority to force Saddam to live up to the agreements he made at the end of the Persian Gulf War. But trust is not a blank check. It has boundaries, limits that arrive before a missile is ever fired by choice.
Before Bush commits American troops to a difficult battle or fires a shot that takes Iraqi lives, the president needs to reveal what he knows about Iraq's weapons and, to the extent he can without compromising methods or sources of intelligence, how he knows it. The day is quickly coming when he must pull the envelope out of his pocket and let Americans, and the world, know what is inside.
That was how President John F. Kennedy made his case. With a tense world watching in October 1962, the country's ambassador to the United Nations, Adlai Stevenson, confronted the Soviet ambassador with photographic proof that the Soviets had delivered missiles to Cuba. Bush must do the same, and for two related reasons.
First, he needs to prove to Americans and the world that Saddam has the weapons he denies possessing. It is a necessary step before this country launches a war that has not been forced upon us by hostile action.
Second, by revealing such information, he can raise the temperature under Saddam even further, increasing the possibility that he will be dislodged without a war. Always a survivor, Saddam may conclude a comfortable life in exile is preferable to the grim alternative. Or other Iraqi leaders may become convinced the game is up and depose him themselves.
After that, of course, we will be left with the problem of creating a better Iraq, and if the administration has detailed plans for that, the evidence is hidden in another suit pocket. It should be preparing to disclose that, as well.
Ronald Reagan had it right. "Trust, but verify" was his memorable phrase regarding arms-control treaties. It applies to American presidents, as well, when they believe the country must go to war. Bush has won Americans' trust. But very soon, now, it will be time for him to verify.
