Listening to the antiwar arguments, one might think that the big, bad, bullying U.
S. and its allies are preparing a preemptive strike against some gentle shepherds in New Zealand. (No blood for sheep!) However well-intended some in the peace camp may be, too many are determinedly blind to the facts. Or sadly ignorant of them. President Bush is targeting an aggressive, dangerous, psychotic dictator who has stockpiled weapons of mass destruction and would use them without compunction. Since World War I, only one nation has been guilty of using poison gas: Iraq. Saddam Hussein has never met a weapon he thought too barbaric to wield. To the U.
S. and its interests, he is a direct threat and an indirect one - through his avid support of terror and his designs on his neighbors. Just ask the people of Kuwait. He cannot be contained. With Saddam in power, there can be no peace. One argument you hear raised against war is fear of retaliation: America mustn't upset the terrorists. After 9/11, does this even need to be rebutted? Terrorists have killed thousands of Americans already and thirst for more. Fighting back is a necessity, unless people want the peace of the grave. Others say the UN must handle Iraq. The UN has, notwithstanding its current equivocations. It voted in 1991 to expel Saddam from Kuwait. That war continues today. It was interrupted by a ceasefire that kept him in power in exchange for his surrender of biological, chemical and nuclear arms. They have not been surrendered. The firing must resume. Simple, okay? Then there's the absurd cry of "No blood for oil!
" If anything, a war would damage Iraqi oil fields - already booby-trapped by Saddam - reducing production and raising prices. If the U.
S. had really coveted Iraq's oil, it could have busted the UN's 13-year-old oil embargo, as many other countries have. Many Americans are worried about Iraqi civilians, including children, becoming casualties. But to the peacemongers, some Iraqi lives are worth more than others. You don't hear protesters raging about the countless innocents brutalized and murdered under Saddam's regime. The U.
S. goal is to liberate the Iraqi people. Finally, there's the Vietnam analogy: American troops mired in an unwinnable war that produced an endless stream of flag-draped coffins. With all due respect to those who fought so bravely in Nam, this is not an ill-supported army of draftees in an Asian jungle facing a motivated enemy. It's a confident, superbly trained and equipped force of professionals up against the remnants of Saddam's conscript army. Most of his soldiers will surrender, just as they did in the Gulf War. How long American troops stay in Iraq matters less than how effective they are at helping the new Iraqi leadership take power. After Saddam is gone. As gone he must be. Medicine for Medicaid Finally, someone is getting serious about fixing Medicaid. Not content to watch their budgets be eaten away by runaway costs, Mayor Bloomberg and the leaders of the state's 57 counties have called on Albany to take the first step in real Medicaid reform: freeze costs at 2001 levels. Do this, and the city's crushing $4 billion Medicaid bill will be trimmed by $1 billion. It also will be of immense help to upstate and suburban localities that have been compelled to jack up property taxes sky-high to meet state-mandated obligations. Under the low-income health coverage program as administered in New York State, the feds pay half the tab and the state picks up a quarter. The remaining 25% of the bill is handed to the already overburdened cities and counties. Yet, as Bloomberg pointed out, none of them has the "authority to manage, control or reduce these costs.
" In other states, localities pay little or nothing. To help bring this budgetary beast under control, Bloomberg and his fellow chief executives from across New York are pushing the Legislature to keep the costs cap in place while reforming and wringing savings from the system. And they have sensible suggestions on how to do it. By making Medicaid more like private insurance, buying medications in bulk, putting recipients on treatment programs akin to managed care and going after fraud, the city could plug $431 million annually back in its parched treasury. Bloomberg also wants to end coverage for nonessential drugs such as Rogaine and Viagra. We feel your pain, fellas. But taxpayers shouldn't have to foot the bill. Gov. Pataki and the Legislature must show some leadership on Medicaid. Quickly. Something's gotta give - and it shouldn't be municipalities buckling under the weight of unfunded state mandates.