After the Sept. 11 attacks, those in the Bush Administration made protecting our country their number one priority. They feel that Iraq is a threat to our security. So should we attack them?

Before this question can be answered, many other questions need to be addressed, first.

First, does Iraq have weapons of mass destruction? The answer is yes. U.N. Resolution 1441 calls on Iraq to fully disclose its weapons of mass destruction and weapon-making capabilities.

According to Hans Blix, United Nations chief biological and chemical weapons inspector, Iraq has not proven to have destroyed its 8,500 liters of anthrax or its VX nerve gas. Saddam

Hussein has weapons of mass destruction and is not disarming like the world wants him to.

Why can the United States and many other countries have weapons, but Iraq cannot?

Saddam is insane. He is unpredictable, unreasonable and dangerous. Allowing him to own weapons that can cause great harm is a threat to global security. You wouldn’t give a gun to a mentally insane man or a murderer — who killed a million of his own civilians — so why let an insane tyrant possess such dangerous weapons?

Why are we worrying about Iraq when we should be going after al-Qaeda?

The United States has not forgotten who attacked us. Just this past weekend al-Qaeda operations chief Khalid Shaikh was caught. He is said to be the mastermind behind the Sept. 11 attacks. The man who funded the attacks, Yemini cleric Shikh Mohammed Ali Hasan Al-Moayod, has also been arrested and charged. Since Sept. 11 more than 200 criminal terrorism charges have been filed. The FBI is still going after al-Qaeda.

What are Bush’s motives?

It is a fallacy to assume that he wants to go to war for oil, despite his connections in the oil industry. No one knows for certain. But even if Iraq was oil-free, an attack would still be justified.

If we are going to invade Iraq, do we need the United Nations behind us?

France, Germany and Russia are still against an attack. They want the inspections to continue, but, as France’s Dominique de Villepin said, “The inspections cannot go on forever.”

Iraq has been given 12 years to disarm. Saddam needs to be removed. If the United Nations can back up the United States, that would be ideal, but the United Nations won’t enforce its own laws.

Regardless, as the world’s sole superpower, this country has the responsibility to keep the world a safe place.