CUMHURIYET- Columnist Ergin Yildizoglu writes about a possible US-led military campaign in Iraq. A summary of his column is as follows:
Do you know where the phase ‘axis of evil’ came from? Former journalist and Bush speechwriter David Frum, who got fired when his wife e-mailed all his friends boasting that he had coined the phrase, explains how it all happened in his tell-all of his 13 months in the White House: When Michael Gerson, chief presidential speechwriter, was assigned to write Bush’s 2002 State of the Union address, a speech required annually of all US presidents, he barged into Frum’s office and asked him to come up with the government’s justification for war against Iraq. In his review of Frum’s White House memoir ‘The Right Man’ in Monday’s New York Observer, Ted Widmer writes: ‘This is bizarre no matter what your politics: Either the decision had been made to invade, but no one knew the reason, or -- even worse -- the Bush administration was genuinely interested in Mr. Frum’s opinion about whether or not to go to war. Last I heard, speechwriters are not supposed to determine the policy of the United States.’
Last week we were moved one step closer to a war in Iraq after weapons inspectors announced they had found empty(!) warheads along with plans regarding nuclear bombs. Furthermore, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said, ‘We won’t let the UN veto our decision on waging a war against Saddam,’ and then ordered masses of British troops to the Gulf Region. Some analysts believe that within 30 days, the fate of Iraq will become clear. Frum’s above-quoted anecdote is key in understanding why things in the Iraq crisis came down to the situation we now face.
Let’s remember once again why the US is dead set to strike at Iraq. Firstly, as you probably know, Iraq possesses weapons of mass destruction. Now don’t ask me, ‘Then why doesn’t the US strike at Korea?’ Be careful, just asking that may be evidence that you’re taking up the side of terrorists and US enemies, and if you share the same sympathies as a quarter-million anti-war ‘traitors’ who took to the streets in Washington over the weekend, you could even be labelled a ‘Muslim fanatic.’ Secondly, the Arab people, who have been suffering under dictators and torturers for many years now, should be liberated and given a democratic regime. Moreover, state enterprises in Iraq, especially those pertaining to oil and gas, must be privatized (Oops! My tongue slipped. Did I just say state enterprises? Please strike that bit).
Don’t ask me these questions either: ‘Wasn’t it the US which supported these dictators for so many years, and provided Saddam himself with chemicals which were used in March 1988 to gas and kill thousands of Kurds in Halepce? If the Bush administration is so democratic, how is it that Bush can revoke a US citizen’s civil rights by simply declaring him or her a ‘foreign combatant,’ and also try to establish a surveillance network over all electronic communications in both the US and everywhere else? How is that certain major media outlets in the US can even discuss such inane questions as ‘Under what circumstances can torture be justified’?
Don’t worry, be happy. The US has ‘very well-grounded’ reasons for killing tens of thousands of Iraqis. And no doubt Bush will seek neither a UN resolution nor weapons inspectors’ proof of illegal weapons to do so.
I hear you asking, ‘Why are we being dragged into a war?’ Well, just take a look at the scribblings of certain columnists of our prestigious media. They will tell you why Turkey shouldn’t stay out of this war, and how the country’s long-term interests necessitate our active involvement.
In a speech delivered to Yale University’s graduating class two years ago, Bush said: ‘Life has its own turning points, presents its own demands, writes its own story. And as time goes by we come to realize that we are not the real authors of this story.’ I wonder, who is writing the text of the war this time?

SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION