by Brent Scowcroft

About the author: Brent Scowcroft has served on the President’s Advisory Committee on Arms Control, the Commission on Strategic Forces, and the President’s Special Review Board. He is considered one of the country’s leading experts on national security, defense, and foreign policy.

Our nation is presently engaged in a debate about whether to launch a war against Iraq. Leaks of various strategies for an attack on Iraq appear with regularity. The Bush administration vows regime change, but states that no decision has been made whether, much less when, to launch an invasion.

It is beyond dispute that Saddam Hussein is a menace. He terrorizes and brutalizes his own people. He has launched war on two of his neighbors...