Ben Wattenberg on camera: Hello, I’m Ben Wattenberg. As the response to 9-11 continues a looming question hangs over Washington: Is Iraq Next? The hawks say take out Saddam Hussein now, or take him out later at much greater cost. The doves say, contain Saddam Hussein, but don’t risk an American strike that might antagonize the Arab street and some of our allies. Think Tank asks, is Iraq worth the political risk? Would it be like Afghanistan or much harder? Or maybe easier? Are there other options?
BW/voice over: To consider those options, Think Tank is joined by:
Col. Ken Allard, senior associate with the Center for Strategic & International Studies, former special assistant to the US Army Chief of Staff, and author of Somalia Operations: Lessons Learned.
Ivo Daalder, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, former National Security Director for European Affairs, and author of Winning Ugly: NATO’s War to Save Kosovo.
And W. Scott Ritter, former UN weapons inspector for Iraq and author of Endgame: Solving the Iraqi Problem Once and For All.
The topic before the house: Is Iraq Next? This week on Think Tank.
Complete program transcript available at pbs.org.
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Commentary
Is Iraq Next?
January 10, 2002