Self-Defense Should Be the Purpose of the War
By David Holcberg (Island Waves, Texas A&M, April 17, 2003)

President Bush should make clear to the whole world--and especially to Americans--that the purpose of America's war against Saddam Hussein's regime is America's self-defense, not the "liberation" of the Iraqi people. September 11 made it clear that we cannot afford the threat of weapons of mass destruction falling into the hands of terrorists that seek our total annihilation. Saddam's feverish pursuit and accumulation of such weapons, his hatred of America, and his connections to terrorist groups constitutes just such a threat. Freeing Iraqis who want to be freed from Saddam's brutal oppression, although laudatory, should be a secondary benefit of this war, not its purpose.