We join with over 70 percent of the American public in declaring our approval of the President's action, undertaken with the explicit approval of the U.S. Congress, to provide for the nation's defense by assembling a multilateral military force to eliminate weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and to remove from power the brutal dictatorship of Saddam Hussein. We do so for the following reasons:
As the President outlined in his State of the Union Address, the United Nations, the International Atomic Energy Agency, and both U.S. and British intelligence agencies concluded that Iraq's regime has developed vast quantities of biological and chemical weapons (sufficient to produce over 25,000 liters of anthrax, more than 38,000 liters of botulinum toxin, and 500 tons of sarin, mustard, and VX nerve agent) and has made repeated efforts to develop nuclear weapons capabilities. All of these actions violate the cease-fire agreement to the Gulf War to which Hussein agreed.
Despite a commitment in the cease-fire agreement to the Gulf War, numerous U.N. resolutions, and repeated inspection efforts over a 12-year period, Hussein's regime has failed to provide proof that it has eliminated these vast quantities of weapons of mass destruction and, instead, posed substantial obstacles and evasions to U.N. inspections, including throwing inspectors out of the country and shooting at American reconnaissance aircraft.
There is ample evidence (some of which was displayed by Secretary of State Colin Powell at a meeting of the U.N.'s Security Council) of Hussein's regime harboring international terrorist organizations, including those having associations with al Qaeda. The accessibility of weapons of mass destruction to terrorists presents a profound threat to both national and international security.
There is abundant evidence that Hussein and his henchmen have brutalized and terrorized the citizens of Iraq, and that this brutalization has involved the unconscionable use of chemical and biological weapons on the people of Iraq.
Although several members of the U.N. Security Council had previously and repeatedly acknowledged through their votes on past U.N. resolutions the severity of problems posed by the Hussein regime, these nations shamefully abrogated their responsibilities and threatened to use their veto when it came to enforcing these resolutions, thereby rendering diplomatic solutions to the problem impossible.
For these reasons, our government's policy to intervene militarily to disarm and remove Iraq's dangerous and brutal regime is in the United States' interest in providing for the security of our citizens, in civilization's interest in preventing the dissemination of weapons of mass destruction that may fall into the hands of terrorists, and in Iraq's interests of being rid of a vicious, murdering dictator and restoring basic human rights to its citizens. It is our fervent hope that these interests may be served with the minimum amount of harm to our multilateral armed forces and to the innocent citizens of Iraq. We also express our gratitude and confidence in the men and women of the coalition forces who are putting themselves in great jeopardy by undertaking this mission to make the world a safer place.
Finally, we denounce the irresponsible misrepresentations of American policies regarding the war to disarm Iraq and the shameful efforts to blame America for Iraq's reckless flouting of U.N. resolutions that made this military action necessary. While hopes to resolve this terrible situation peacefully are understandable (even if unrealistic), characterizations of American policy as being motivated by less than noble purposes are baseless and reprehensible. We urge those with anti-war sentiments to dissociate themselves from those who would use the peace movement as a vehicle for a radical leftist agenda and a pulpit for spewing anti-American venom.
Sincerely,
The following faculty members of the University at Buffalo, SUNY
Michael Anbar, Medicine
William H. Baumer, Philosophy
James E. Campbell, Political Science
Randall Dipert, Philosophy
Isaac Ehrlich, Finance and Managerial Economics
Richard E. Ellis, History
Leon E. Farhi, Physiology and Biophysics
Howard Foster, Management
Gerald M. Goldhaber, Communication
Michael Gort, Economics
William A. Hamlen, Jr., Finance and Managerial Economics
D.P. Malone, Electrical Engineering
Albert L. Michaels, History
Carol J. Romanowski, Industrial Engineering
Gershon Sageev, Mathematics
Pneena Sageev, Engineering and Applied Sciences
Barry Smith, Philosophy
Lawrence Southwick, Jr., Finance and Managerial Economics
Photo: Meredith Forrest Kulwicki
