Remember when Hans Blix said: "We have found no smoking gun." He should have been called on carpet right there. He used a turn of language that misdirected debate from outset. It implied that 'inspectors' were looking for 'something.' That phrase in itself changed nature of UN Resolution and no one seemed to notice. He was not challenged.

Further semantic confusion has been introduced: disarming Iraq, regime change, destroying weapons of mass destruction. The use of these terms places burden on US to disarm Iraq, to do job Iraq should be doing. Spelling out definition of 'serious consequences' introduces into debate additional and troubling notions: strategy of preemption, a preference for unilateralism instead of multilateralism, charges of bullying, war vs. peace, and so forth. Too many unsettling issues are before public, contributing to venom that is now directed at US from quarters everywhere.

The debate should be limited as much as possible to terms: 'Prove' and 'Verify'. The UN doesn't need more inspectors. They don't need more time. Iraq needs to prove veracity of their claims plain and simple. The simple truth is: after months, Iraq is not willing to comply with UN Resolution 1441. Yet, it was up to Iraq to demonstrate their status from time UN Resolution was first passed.

Language is important. Indeed, it may be as critical as policy itself because it provides ethos within which policy is implemented.

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Gerald L. Campbell served as senior staff to Members of the U.S. House of Representatives for nine years. He became Senior Advisor to the Director of the United States Information Agency (USIA) under President Ronald Reagan and President George Bush.

But, there is a basic fallacy here. The actual causes of behavior are not same as material conditions correlated to such behaviors. Correlations only reflect causal activity existing at some deeper level of human reality.

And so, limitation of this science-based approach for prevention lies in its failure to recognize that there is an inherent spiritual dimension to human problems which is organically and causally related to material conditions and behavior of individual. The simple truth is that at their core social problems reflect a radical breakdown in fundamental human relationships (love, compassion, understanding, and mercy), and any attempt to prevent socially dysfunctional behaviors requires a strengthening of those spiritual relationships in day-to-day life of individuals, families, neighborhoods, institutions, and ultimately human community.

Given organic nature of human reality, then, it is imperative that we strive to develop a more comprehensive prevention strategy that will address socio-economic conditions and behavior of individual within spiritual context in which they originate. This strategy of prevention need not be inconsistent with constitutional separation of church and state. All that is required is that we ask deeper questions and strive to develop through reason a more profound understanding of spiritual dynamics of human behavior as they unfold in concrete lives of individuals.

Gerald L. Campbell served as senior staff to Members of the U.S. House of Representatives for nine years. He became Senior Advisor to the Director of the United States Information Agency (USIA) under President Ronald Reagan and President George Bush.