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Last Updated: Friday - 09/24/2010

Week of March 10, 2003

Take this ready-for-war quiz

Discover your own answer: Who's the dangerous bully in Iraq's tempest?

By SUZANNE ELSTON

There is a dangerous bully on the international block and I'm not convinced that it's Iraq. While U.S. President George Bush has alluded to the threat that Saddam Hussein poses to the world, in the words of our own prime minister, Jean Chretien, "The proof is the proof." Thus far, all I've heard is a lot of frightening rhetoric, and I don't think that I'm alone.

While I have no doubt that Saddam Hussein is a very dangerous and not a particularly likeable man, the question we should all be asking is, "Do we know enough to justify going to war with Iraq?"

Last week I received a questionnaire that provides an interesting perspective. Listed below are the first 25 questions from the quiz. (The remaining 28 questions can be found at the website listed at the bottom of this column.)

Questions:

  1. What percentage of the world's population does the U.S. have?
  2. What percentage of the world's wealth does the U.S. have?

    $100 could buy 11 blankets for refugees - or 11 hand grenades.

    - Tools for Peace, Tools for War

  3. Which country has the largest oil reserves?
  4. Which country has the second largest oil reserves?
  5. How much is spent on military budgets a year worldwide?
  6. How much of this is spent by the U.S.?
  7. What percent of U.S. military spending would ensure the essentials of life to everyone in the world, according to the UN?
  8. How many people have died in wars since World War II?
  9. How long has Iraq had chemical and biological weapons?
  10. Did Iraq develop these chemical and biological weapons on their own?
  11. Did the US government condemn the Iraqi use of gas warfare against Iran?
  12. How many people did Saddam Hussein kill using gas in the Kurdish town of Halabja in 1988?
  13. How many western countries condemned this action at the time?
  14. How many gallons of Agent Orange did America use in Vietnam?
  15. Are there any proven links between Iraq and the Sept. 11 terrorist attack?
  16. What is the estimated number of civilian casualties in the Gulf War?
  17. How many casualties did the Iraqi military inflict on the western forces during the Gulf War?
  18. How many retreating Iraqi soldiers were buried alive by U.S. tanks with ploughs mounted on the front?
  19. How many tons of depleted uranium were left in Iraq and Kuwait after the Gulf War?
  20. What according to the UN was the increase in cancer rates in Iraq between 1991 and 1994?
  21. How much of Iraq's military capacity did America claim it had destroyed in 1991?
  22. Is there any proof that Iraq plans to use its weapons for anything other than deterrence and self-defence?
  23. Does Iraq present more of a threat to world peace now than 10 years ago?
  24. How many civilian deaths has the Pentagon predicted in the event of an attack on Iraq in 2003?
  25. What percentage of these will be children?
Answers: 1. 6 per cent. 2. 50 per cent. 3. Saudi Arabia. 4. Iraq. 5. $900+ billion. 6. 50 per cent. 7. 10 per cent (that's about $40 billion, the amount of funding initially requested to fund the retaliatory attack on Afghanistan). 8. 86 million. 9. Since the early 1980s. 10. No. The U.S. government, Britain and private corporations supplied the materials and technology. 11. No. 12. 5,000. 13. 0. 14. 17 million. 15. No. 16. 35,000. 17. 0. 18. 6,000 19. 40 tons. 20. 700 per cent. 21. 80 per cent. 22. No. 23. No. 24. 10,000. 25. Over 50 per cent.

Conflicts are never black and white, as the above questions so clearly illustrate. If we want peace and stability in the Middle East, then perhaps we should be investing in those things that create a stable, democratic and open society - the kind of society that would never support the rise to power of a dictator like Saddam Hussein.

As Tools for Peace, Tools for War (from the War Resisters website) points out, $100 could buy 11 blankets for refugees - or 11 hand grenades. For $145,600, you can purchase one bunker-buster guided bomb, or provide rent subsidies for 1,000 families. $763,000 would pay for one minute of war on Iraq, or improve, repair and modernize 20 schools.

As we stand dangerously on the brink of war, we owe it to our children, and the children of Iraq, to do what we can to stop this war - before it's too late.

Recommended websites:

Take the rest of the quiz courtesy of the San Jose Peace Center at www.sanjosepeace.org/stopthewar/IQtest.htm. Founded in 1923, the War Resisters League believes that war is a crime against humanity. Go to www.warresisters.org.

For 101 ways to stop the war on Iraq, visit www.earthfuture.com.

(Send your comments to Your Earth, c/o Niagara Falls Review, 4801 Valley Way, Niagara Falls, ON, L2E 6T6, or send an e-mail to selston@sympatico.ca.)

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