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| Volume VIII, December 2001, Number 4 |
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| EXCERPT: Will the Next Mideast War Go Nuclear? |
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| Mark Gaffney |
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Mr. Gaffney is the author of a 1989 study of the Israeli nuclear weapons program: Dimona and the Third Temple: The Story Behind the Vanunu Revelation.
It is now more than a month after the
horrific destruction of the World
Trade Center in lower Manhattan. As
U.S. bombing of Afghanistan continues, few observers doubt that President Bush will hesitate to pursue a wider war should the investigation of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terror network turn up evidence linking other governments with the events of September 11. At the top of the suspects' list is Iraq. Already conservatives within the administration and in Congress have reportedly urged the president to "take out" Saddam Hussein once and for all, whether or not incriminating evidence is forthcoming. Others in the administration, such as Secretary of State Colin Powell and Vice-President Dick Cheney, have been more cautious.1
Still, the crisis threatens to deepen. The Bush administration appears poised for expanded military action. For this reason it behooves us to explore the possible consequences, particularly whether a renewed military campaign against Iraq could trigger a wider war involving weapons of mass destruction. I will selectively review the pertinent literature on Saddam Hussein's military capabilities, vis-à-vis the United States, Israel and other states in the region.
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| 1 Kelly Motz, "Terrorism: Iraq Watch," The Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control, posted at http://www.iraqwatch.org/updates/update.asp?id=pol200109211811. |
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