President George W. Bush and Saddam Hussein are scrambling this week to prepare for weapons inspections. While Bush is rallying support at a NATO summit in Prague, Saddam and his regime are preparing for the Dec. 8 deadline, when a list of weapons is to be presented to the inspections committee.
Until that date Bush is expected to meet with heads of state from around the world to gain their support. “We will consult with our friends and all nations, and they can choose,” Bush said at the summit in reference to building a coalition.
The United States military also continues to station troops in Middle East nations, such as Qatar, Djibouti and Kuwait. However, the force is not yet ready for a full-blown assault on Iraq.
Despite bombings of radar stations and anti-aircraft missile sites this week in Basra and other sites, the force is not yet prepared for an invasion.
“You can’t deploy 250,000 troops overnight,” said Jean-Robert Leguey-Feilleux, professor of political science at Saint Louis University, in reference to the amount of troops that are expected to be used in a strike.
Assaults in the no-fly zone have been occurring since its creation, after the Gulf war, to eliminate anti-aircraft batteries and radar stations.
Although American news has been reporting the extreme seriousness of Iraq’s assault on a U.S. plane earlier this week, the international community may need a different reason to use force.
“Events in the no-fly zone have gone on for some time,” Leguey-Feilleux said.
He pointed out the difficulty of finding an acceptable reason to the United Nations Security Council by saying that concrete evidence is needed. Saddam will have to be caught “red-handed,” and it may take some time.
Even with the U-2 spy plane and the remote-control Predator spy plane, which is responsible for the killing of six Al Qaeda operatives in Yemen earlier this month, gathering intelligence to find hidden weapons will be difficult.
Leguey-Feilleux noted that weapons, or materials needed to make them, may be easily transported with regular traffic or hidden under camouflage.
He also pointed out that, strategically, an assault on Iraq would be best taken in January or February. The cooler temperatures of an Iraqi winter are much more favorable than the scorching summer months.
“If President Bush cannot find a reason for an early strike,” Leguey-Feilleux said. “You will have thousands of anxious young men just waiting in the desert.”
Protests have been reported throughout the Middle East, especially in Saudi Arabia, where students and youths have organized rallies against the U.S. presence in the region.
Three weeks ago, a reported 150,000 protestors rallied in Washington, D.C. to speak against a war with Iraq.
