Who Has the Moral High Ground in the Debate Over Iraq?

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Hi, I'm Bill O'Reilly, reporting tonight from Los Angeles.  Thanks for watching us.

Who has the moral high ground in the Iraq debate?  That is the subject of this evening's Talking Points Memo.

As you know, both sides of the debate are saying God is on their side.  Those who favor peace point to the pope calling the war immoral, and those who favor the removal of an evil man, Saddam, say they're protecting lives by that action.

In this case, I think both sides are wrong.  Nobody knows for sure what the absolute right thing to do is.  We can only have opinions.  Thus, it's intellectually dishonest to be claiming God is on your side when only God knows for sure what the right thing to do is.

Talking Points bases its support of military action against Saddam on one overwhelming fact.  And note the word "fact."

According to the United Nations, Saddam has refused to account for 8,500 liters of anthrax, as well as 31,000 other chemical munitions.  Again, that's according to the U.N.

Faced with that fact, it is dangerous to allow an evil dictator to remain in power.  Now if you want to chance that Saddam would never use those deadly weapons that is your right in a free society, and I respect that right, but I don't want to chance that.

In the wake of 9/11 and after the United Nations has demanded 18 times that Saddam give up his weapons, again, I don't want to take the chance.  And international law is on my side.

In an absolutely disgraceful column today, Los Angeles Times writer Robert Scheer says the United States will join the ranks of "war criminals," if we attack Iraq.

Scheer is perhaps the most radical journalist writing in a major newspaper today, and his moral indignation and blatant anti-Americanism is revolting.

On the same page as Scheer's column is another commentary by Elie Wiesel, the Holocaust survivor.  He says, "The nightmarish question of what [Saddam] might do with his arsenal of unconventional weaponry is why, more than ever, some of us believe in intervention.  What it comes down to is this: we have a moral obligation to intervene where evil is in control.  Today, that place is Iraq."

Now, I believe Mr. Wiesel is basing his analysis on what's best for the world and Mr. Scheer is basing his analysis on his hatred of the Bush administration.

In the end, Saddam will be removed from power, and the world will be a better place.  And I hope God approves of that.

And that's The Memo.

The Most Ridiculous Item of the Day

Time now for "The Most Ridiculous Item of the Day"...

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