Int'l Affairs expert says US should fight Iraq

Given the threat posed by Saddam Hussein's continuing reign in Iraq, it is correct for the United States to intervene in the region, according to Leslie Gelb (LA '59), the president of the Council on Foreign Relations and a University trustee.

Gelb spoke about Iraq and also gave his opinions on issues ranging from North Korean missiles to the Pakistani president to a crowd of Tufts students during a lecture last Friday at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

US involvement in Iraq is important because Iraq definitively has weapons of mass destruction and a means to deliver them, Gelb said. Hussein has used chemical weapons in the past and Iraq also has the means to create biological weapons, such as spores of anthrax and small pox. "It's not a question of whether he has them, it's whether he can use them effectively on the battlefield," Gelb said.

"Saddam Hussein isn't just another petty dictator. I think President Bush is right in wanting to get rid of him, because containment didn't and will not work." Iraq's capacity to build nuclear weapons is the most important threat to the US, and "at this point, Saddam's connection to al Qaeda is just the icing on the cake," he said.

Gelb contested Bush's methodology, but insisted that his attention to the situation was an improvement. "Whatever happens will be talked about for many, many years to come. Things are never going to be the same," he said.

Problems with US intervention include the fact that most countries don't want the US to go to war in Iraq, and a power vacuum in Iraq after Hussein's ouster could create further instability in the Middle East, especially if the populations of neighboring countries oppose his removal. The reaction of European Muslims is another unknown factor, Gelb said.

The support of the UN Security Council was a critical signal of badly-needed international support. "It is extremely rare that all 15 members of the Security Council, with member countries like Syria, agree unanimously on anything," Gelb said. UN countries must now decide how to handle a post-Hussein Iraq because, "sometimes victory could be worse than the current situation," he said.

The US government must also prepare its country at home, something Gelb thinks the Bush administration has failed to do. "The Bush administration is criminally and utterly irresponsible to assume that we're not going to be faced with a compromising situation," he said. "We're perilously at risk."

Gelb discussed other conflict-prone areas of the world, calling North Korea a country that "bridges the time between the Cold War era and today." Deteriorating relations between the US and North Korea could result in America cutting off all economic support to the country and forcing Korea to sell weapons of mass destruction to Iraq, terrorist groups, and South Asian countries such as Pakistan.

Gelb also talked about India and Pakistan, countries he said are "crazier than the USSR and the US were during the cold war." But, he said, "just because both countries possess nuclear weapons, doesn't mean they will do dumb things."

Gelb said Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf was a "really a good man" who had done good things for his country, and praised his assistance to the US in the fight against terrorism. Musharraf has used questionable methods to maintain internal peace, however, such as "turning a blind eye" to the Muslim extremists who commit violence against India and other nations.

Students generally had very positive reactions to the speech. "Dr. Gelb is a brilliant man," US Navy Commander and Fletcher student Susan Fink said. "He is highly-respected in this field, as he heads one of the most prestigious organizations in the nation. His speech was timely and excellent, as it gave a comprehensive look at geopolitics."

A number of Tufts undergraduates echoed Fink's assessment. "I felt the event was captivating and surpassed everything I expected out of it," freshman Amanivr Chahal said. "It is now obvious to me that Dr. Gelb is not only a great orator, but an extremely worldly and knowledgeable man."

Gelb came to Tufts as part of the Charles Francis Adams lecture series, which began in the early 1980s. The lecture series is Fletcher's "most prestigious vehicle in bringing in experts on foreign policy," Fletcher spokeswoman Terry Ann Knopf said. In previous years, the lecture series has brought figures like George Bush, Henry Kissinger and Ted Turner to Tufts.

Gelb delivered the lecture casually, starting with a few jokes. "I'm going to think out loud with you all," he said.

Gelb, who currently serves as a University trustee, served as assistant to the US Secretary of State during the Carter administration. For the past nine years, Gelb has been president of the Council on Foreign Relations, one of the premier organizations that advises the federal government on dealing with global issues.