ADVISORY President Bush’s recent decision to seek congressional support in dealing with Iraq’s Saddam Hussein sparked debate regarding the president’s roles and rights in declaring and responding to war. Several University of Michigan faculty are available to offer perspectives. Ted Brader, assistant professor of political science, Center for Political Studies, can discuss public opinion regarding the president and potential for war. If the president had taken action before seeking approval, he might not have suffered public backlash, especially if the attacks were considered successful, Brader says. Success, he says, would involve removing Hussein from power and few American casualties. Brader can be reached at (734) 936-1777. Juan Cole, professor of Middle Eastern and South Asian history, department of history, says the Bush administration states that promoting democracy is one major reason for invading Iraq, “but does not seem to have thought through what this change will mean in concrete terms.” Cole says there is a danger, widely recognized in the region, that a democratic Iraq could splinter or could tilt toward various sorts of fundamentalisms, as happened in democratic Lebanon in 1975 or in Yugoslavia after the fall of communism. “I have heard no U.S. government spokesman come close to addressing these practical issues in Iraq’s future,” he says. Contact Cole at (734) 747-8211 or (734) 763-1599. Vincent L. Hutchings, assistant professor of political science and faculty associate, Center for Political Studies, notes that as commander-in-chief, the president does have authority to act without congressional approval particularly when prompt military action is required, such as immediately following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. “However, given the ample time before any proposed Iraq action, it seems to me that if congressional approval is not necessary in this case, then one would be hard pressed to envision a scenario wherein it would be required,” Hutchings says. He can be reached at (734) 764-6591. Raymond Tanter, professor emeritus, political science, says as the 21st century opens, nonstate freelance terrorists who seek to acquire and use chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction may collude with rogue regimes to compound the threat facing the United States. “The United States has little choice but to consider a preventive war to change the regime in Baghdad and destroy its weapons of mass destruction,” he says. “And if Baghdad were about to achieve nuclear weapons status, Washington should consider a preemptive strike against these nuclear facilities.” Tanter is available at (202) 320-8434 or (202) 333-7346 (home). Contact: Jared Wadley
Phone: (734) 936-7819
E-mail: [email protected]      

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