The Wellesley Townsman
Frank: war with Iraq unnecessary
By Pat Healy / Townsman Correspondent
Thursday, January 9, 2003

U.S. Rep. Barney Frank did not sound proud to be part of a government that may be about to wage war on Iraq. "American politics is not at its most attractive now," Frank told the 300 people crowded into the pews, the balcony and the aisles of the Unitarian Universalist Society of Wellesley Hills.

Frank, D-4th, voted against the congressional resolution to let President George W. Bush wage war against Iraq without further congressional debate. And in his 30-minute speech on Monday, he touched upon several reasons why he thinks invading Iraq to remove Saddam Hussein from power is unnecessary.

"He is a terrible man, but the country over which he presides is simply in no position to threaten the United States," said the Newton legislator.

Frank said the military power of the United States is more sophisticated than all of the armies in the history of the world put together. Even if Saddam does have the weapons of mass destruction that the United States accuses him of having, he has enough sense to know not to attack America, Frank said.

"Saddam is vicious, but not suicidal," he said.

Frank also said our government has been trying to find a link between Hussein and al Qaeda, a link he said "is just not there."

"Osama bin Laden is an extremely fanatical Muslim, and until a few years ago I was a better Muslim than Saddam Hussein," said Frank, who is Jewish. Frank also said a war with Iraq could anger more terrorists into attacking the U.S.

"Clearly a war with Iraq will exacerbate hostility against the U.S.," he said.

Frank discussed not only why he thinks war with Iraq is a bad idea but also his theories on why others think it's a good idea. "I disagree with my friends on the left that think this is about wealth or oil," he said. But Frank raised the possibility that the desire to go to war could be a matter of sparking our own patriotic spirit. "Some of these conservatives miss the Cold War," he said. "Not that they miss the Soviet Union, but they think we lost a sense of purpose when the Soviet Union collapsed, and thought that we were in danger of becoming a nation of bean counters, of shop clerks worried about only our own material well-being."

At the end of his talk, Frank answered questions from members of the community and encouraged people to write letters to President Bush. Politicians don't know who is out marching in demonstrations, he said, but they know who writes to them.

Many in the audience had questions. Kathy Shamberger of Wellesley, who has three children eligible for the draft, was assured by Frank that there is "zero chance of a draft."

Paul Merry, also of Wellesley, asked Frank to elaborate on his point that a war with Iraq could spark more terrorist activity against the U.S. and asked what we can do as a community to counter Islamic extremism.

"We need intelligence, information and sympathy from the Islamic world if we're going to get information about these people," said Merry.

Frank's response prompted laughter from the audience.

"One of the dumbest things I've seen is that we have large amounts of intercepted information both through wire taps and captured documents in Arabic, sitting untranslated, and the Defense Department just decided to protect the strength of the American military by firing seven gay Arabic translators," he said. "I guess the policy that used to be 'don't ask, don't tell' is now 'don't ask, don't tell and don't translate'."

Although most of the audience was in full agreement with Frank against war with Iraq, there was at least one person who disagreed with one of his points.

Kathleen Anderson of Jamaica Plain argued that oil is the reason for possible war. But Frank countered that there is no oil in Afghanistan, and we didn't hesitate to go in there.

At the end of the meeting, Bob Farrell of the Social Justice Outreach Committee for the Unitarian Universalist Society presented Frank with "A Statement Against a Preventive War in Iraq" endorsed by Members and Friends of the group. Frank promised to enter it into the congressional record.

Reprinted with permission from The Wellesley Townsman