T A B L E+T A L K Janet Reno: Is she a "stooge or stand-up gal"? Join the discussion in the Politics area of Table Talk D A I L Y+Q U O T E In God we trust A L S O+T O D A Y Uncle Sam regrets ... When U.S. officials warn of "regrettable civilian casualties" resulting from a renewed bombing of Iraq, they should talk to Rema al-Attar. R E C E N T L Y Salon exclusive: The terror at home By Jeff Stein The arrest of two men in Las Vegas on charges of carrying stocks of the anthrax virus highlights how easy it is to make weapons of mass destruction (02/20/98) Bigger than the pope By Andrew Jennings When the Olympics president says, "Come unto me," the local Catholic priests say, "How fast?" (02/19/98) Not over the hill By Eve Pell While the TV cameras at Nagano focus on the young, athletes 40 and over -- including some in their 90s -- are a growing presence on tracks and fields everywhere (02/18/98) New York Times: All the facts that are fit to omit By Gene Lyons On the Clinton scandals, the newspaper of record is the newspaper of insinuations, half-truths, omissions and flat-out inaccuracies (02/14/98) Gays and dogs By Daniel Reitz If Maine voters think gays shouldn't have any more rights than dogs, then maybe gays shouldn't be paying taxes (02/13/98) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Browse the Newsreal Archives - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
		Finish the job? Not in our lifetime The U.S. can't "go all the way" in Iraq because, beyond Saddam Hussein, there's nowhere to go. Besides, his neighbors need to keep him around. BY JONATHAN BRODER | WASHINGTON -- The deal that United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan struck with Saddam Hussein over the weekend may have diffused the Iraqi crisis, at least temporarily. but diplomats acknowledge it is probably only a matter of time before the world community is nose-to-nose again with the Iraqi strongman over yet another of his violations of international law. What is not so readily acknowledged is that absent a cohesive American strategy, Middle Eastern leaders wouldn't have it any other way. The dirty little secret of the Iraqi crisis, whether it simmers at the United Nations or threatens to boil over into armed conflict, is that the Middle East, the region that would seemingly have the most to gain from Saddam's quick dispatch, needs the petty tyrant. Why? As long as Saddam remains in power, other leaders in the Middle East look good by comparison. For Syria's President Hafez-al Assad, for example, the focus on Saddam means less attention paid to his own repressive policies. Neighboring Iran, these days regarded as the lesser of two evils, can rebuild its economy and its military undisturbed, secure in the knowledge that either the U.N. or the U.S. will periodically slap down the Islamic republic's most fervent enemy so long as Saddam is around. Even Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earns dividends. Most Israeli intelligence experts have concluded that Saddam no longer has the capability to rain scud missiles on the Jewish state, as he did during the Gulf War. but the memory of those attacks is very much alive in the Israeli mind. Netanyahu, ordering the distribution of gas masks to the general population during the recent crisis, artfully manipulated those memories to deflect attention away from the stalled Middle East peace talks, and he can be expected to utilize the Iraqi threat again if the pressure for concessions becomes too uncomfortable. Then there are the Kissingerian "balance of power" considerations. Ever since World War I, the stability of the Persian Gulf has depended upon a balance between its two largest nations, Iraq and Iran. But unlike Iran, an ancient and homogeneous culture, modern Iraq is largely a creation of colonial British cartographers and encompasses three distinct regions: the Kurdish north, the Sunni Muslim center and the Shiite Muslim south. If the U.S. toppled Saddam, Iraq could fracture along those ethnic and religious lines, throwing the entire Middle East into turmoil. Under this scenario, diplomats fear Iran, coming to the aid of its Shiite co-religionists, might grab the south, extending its influence up to the borders of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia -- a prospect that neither desert kingdom, not to mention the United States, relishes. In the north, the breakaway Iraqi Kurds would likely set their sights on a long-sought independent Kurdistan, which would include Kurdish areas of Syria, Iran and Turkey. To preempt such a development, all three countries might tear off chunks of northern Iraq to serve as buffers. N E X T+P A G E+| The devil you know