War or Peace?

OK, up to 30,000 locals recently marched against going to war, but where do the areas political and artistic leaders stand? Democratic former Gov. Booth Gardners wife joined the march, but he didnt. He thinks that to back out of a war now would be disastrous. Novelist Tom Robbins, in contrast, is so violently opposed to what he calls Americas pimple-faced arrogance that he yearns to see us get our butts kicked.

Seattle Opera general director Speight Jenkins, in the middle of a fund-raising drive that has him talking to people of all political persuasions, hasnt come across a single person in favor of the war. But former City Attorney Mark Sidran says 12 years of sanctions havent disarmed Saddam Hussein.

Below are selected remarks from Seattle-area notables, including those with special insight as well as the well-known.

Booth Gardner served as Washingtons governor from 1985 to 1993:

Bush has to go to war. They value face in that part of the world, and hes made all these noises about going to war. If he
doesnt go to war, that part of the world will pull our tail from time immemorial. Hell lose face. They wont take him seriously. Theyll take advantage of every opportunity they can to create problems because they know that Bush wont follow up.

Tom Robbins is due to release his eighth novel, Villa Incognito, in April:

Quite probably the worst thing about the inevitable and totally unjustifiable war with Iraq is that theres no chance the U.S. might lose it. America is a young country, and intellectually, emotionally, and physically, it has been exhibiting all the characteristics of an adolescent bully, a pubescent punk whos too big for his britches and too strong for his age. Someday, perhaps, we may grow out of our mindless, pimple-faced arrogance, but in the meantime, it might do us a ton of good to have our butts kicked. Unfortunately, like most of the targets we pick on, Iraq is much too weak to give us the thrashing our continuously overbearing behavior deserves, while Saddam is even less deserving of victory than Bush.

Dont get me wrongI dont want American soldiers killed. But I dont want Iraqis killed, either. Im just not one of those people who believes that American lives are more valuable than the lives
of others.

Jonathan Raban is the author of, among many books, Arabia: A Journey Through the Labyrinth:

If the Bush administration actually tried to encourage the spread of theocratic terrorism, it couldnt be going about it in a better way. What this administration betrays in its every statement is a terrifying ignorance of the history, the character, the culture of the region that they are about to invade. It leaves me feeling simply scared shitless.

I have zero belief in the idea that Iraq can somehow be reconstituted as a beacon of democracy in the Arab world. I mean, look at Afghanistan, and look at where we have left Afghanistan.

[Iraq] was a flimsy fiction in the first place when the British brought it into being in 1921. It was a collection of scattered and hostile groups of Kurds, Sunnis, Shiites, Chaldeans, Assyrians, Jews, and all sorts of other groups. It is only held in place now by Saddams military and secret police. The natural tendency of things would mean that Iraq would simply atomize at the point it is invaded.

Resat Kasaba, a Turkish native, is a University of Washington professor of international studies:

I am concerned that the aftermath of the war will be very, very complicated and messy, and I havent seen a clear plan of how the U.S. and its allies are going to deal with the fallout. For example, its likely that if it looks like northern Iraq is on the way to becoming a separate Kurdish state or turning into some kind of chaotic relationship among various Kurdish tribes, the Turkish army will move in to keep those groups from fighting each other, and more importantly, from influencing the Kurdish communities in Turkey. If the Turkish army does that, its very likely the Iranian forces will do the same from the east (they also have Kurdish communities that straddle the Iraqi border).

In the meantime, if Saddams regime feels cornered, what he will really try to do is to turn this into an Arab-Israeli conflict.

Rabbi James Mirel leads a reform congregation at Temple Bnai Torah:

While recognizing that there are dangers out there, real dangers, my perspective is that a superpower like the United States demonstrates its strength primarily by avoiding military conflict. When a superpower goes to war, I believe its a sign of weakness.

If were the protector of our allies in the region, like Israel and Turkey, I think they benefit much more from diplomacy than military action, because theyre the ones in the line of fire.

Barry Goren is executive director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle:

We need to do this. Theres a threat to us from the current regime in Iraq. [Israel] is not the primary focus of what Im thinking about. But I do think the Israelis will benefit from a regime change in Baghdad, just as I feel like we will. My sense is they feel theres some chance there may be an attack on them but I think they feel prepared for it.