THE DEBATE THAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN

Three months before The Decider unleashed his attack on Iraq, Saddam was interviewed by Dan Rather of CBS. At the conclusion of the discussion, Saddam challenged President George W. Bush to a debate to be broadcast all over the world. Saddam said a debate "might stop a war."

The mad but naive operator of the human shredding machine (never found) and producer of countless stockpiles of WMD (never found) could not have imagined how soon his two sons and a 14-year-old grandson would die in a hail of "Coalition" gunfire in their bedroom. Then, Saddam himself was tried and executed for something, I forget what. Oh, I think he ordered violence against his enemies who were trying to overthrow the government.

President Bush did not dignify the challenge to debate with an answer, and the war drums pounded louder and louder.

Saddam had been a CIA operative, you know, so he had plenty to say but no one to tell. Hey, that's probably why Bush wouldn't debate him. While vice president of Iraq, Saddam rounded up and delivered suspected Communists to the CIA office in Baghdad for enhanced interrogations. Bush might have had to wrestle with the strange fact in a face-to-face meeting.

Wouldn't it be a good idea for all "enemies" to debate in public before attacking each other?

The world should have demanded a debate instead of a shooting war. A Bush-Saddam debate might have resulted in a cheaper settlement of the dispute with thousands of people still breathing. Alive & Well beats Shock & Awe..


It's all so simple.