Iraq will allow full weapons inspections!!!!!
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Karuuna | Monday, November 11, 2002 - 04:59 pm     Wise wrote: <<The true test of leadership is to do the things that need to be done. Relying on polling samples to govern a country is what the previous president did- it kept him popular - but was not necessarily good for the country.>> Wise, yes and no. In a democracy, I believe the intent is for the leader to act in accordance with the will of the people. Ideally, that's why we elect them, because we believe they will do what we want them to. If they don't, we elect someone else... |
Karuuna | Monday, November 11, 2002 - 05:11 pm     Thank you for that site, Hillbilly! I found it very informative, and it does represent a wide range of views, which I appreciate. While the polls there confirm Bush's approval ratings, there are also 5 polls that list problems and priorities, pre-election. All of them rate the economy as more important than the war effort. And, the polls on the war effort show pretty strongly unilaterally that the US should NOT act without UN support, and that support for the war effort is declining (even the conservative Fox News poll)... just as I said above, and in agreement with the CNN poll above. |
Hillbilly | Monday, November 11, 2002 - 05:21 pm     FOX News/Opinion Dynamics Poll. Latest: Sept. 24-25, 2002. N=900 registered voters nationwide. MoE ± 3. . "Do you support or oppose U.S. military action to remove Iraqi President Saddam Hussein?" Support Oppose Not Sure % % % 9/24-25/02 58 27 15 9/8-9/02 66 22 12 8/02 69 22 9 7/02 72 18 10 4-5/02 70 20 10 1/02 74 15 11 . "Do you think Saddam Hussein will ever give weapons inspectors complete and total access, or not?" % . Will 18 . Will not 74 . Not sure 8 . . "Are you more concerned that Iraq will attack the U.S. or are you more concerned that Iraq might supply nuclear and other weapons to terrorist organizations such as al Qaeda?" % . Attack the U.S. 23 . Supply weapons to terrorists 55 . Both (vol.) 15 . Neither (vol.) 4 . Not sure 3 . . "How likely do you think it is that the United Nations will enforce its existing resolutions that require Iraq give up efforts to develop nuclear, chemical and biological weapons? . . ." % . Very likely 27 . Somewhat likely 31 . Not very likely 20 . Not at all likely 12 . Not sure 10 |
Hillbilly | Monday, November 11, 2002 - 05:23 pm     Kar...is this the poll from there that you are citing? I don't see a question in the FOX poll that asks about waiting for UN approval. |
Hillbilly | Monday, November 11, 2002 - 05:32 pm     Sorry, Kar..but I have reviewed the polls at this site and I don't see your conclusions at all. Maybe you could tell me exactly which polls you are trying to use. The support for acting against Iraq does not seem to be declining from what I saw there. As far as what issues are of national importance, I was unable to find a FOX poll on the issue. |
Hillbilly | Monday, November 11, 2002 - 06:01 pm     How Bush Outfoxed the U.N. on Iraq Some pundits say the Bush administration caved to the U.N. on Iraq, but United Press International suggests that the White House outfoxed the French and Russian globalists with "a classic bait and switch." http://www.newsmax.com/showinsidecover.shtml?a=2002/11/8/173622 >>>>>>>>> Very good article on the UN resolution that was passed. |
Karuuna | Monday, November 11, 2002 - 06:09 pm     Hillbilly, the above Fox poll shows that from January '02 to Sept '02, support for military action in Iraq has fallen from 74% to 58%, while opposition has gone from 15% to 27%, doesn't it? |
Hillbilly | Monday, November 11, 2002 - 06:13 pm     That's true Kar...but 58% is still more than half of those polled which supposedly represents half of the population of the US. The coming months will be interesting to see what happens with this issue now that the elections are over and the UN has passed a resolution. |
Karuuna | Monday, November 11, 2002 - 06:17 pm     Agreed, Hillbilly. All I said was that support was "declining", which it is. The October numbers have not yet been posted, it will be interesting to see what those were just before the election. I still maintain that folks didn't vote for Republicans because they agreed with the president's stance on Iraq. These polls would all seem to reflect that as well. And even tho there isn't a Fox poll on the matter specifically, all the polls listed at the site you gave do verify that the top election issue was the economy; and that Americans don't want the president to act unilaterally (with UN and ally support) in Iraq. |
Hillbilly | Monday, November 11, 2002 - 06:27 pm     I think the President can work on both the economy and the war on terrorism issue. Why does it have to be an either-or thing. I still disagree on the acting unilateral issue though...that is not how I interpreted the results. I'm sure its a matter of perspective. We will not be 'going it alone' if the UN fails to act. We are already building our own coalition of countries ready to act with us with or without the UN. The only countries who probably won't be on board are France, Russia, China, and the arab countries. Big surprise there! I'm not sure they will be that much help even with UN approval. |
Crossfire | Monday, November 11, 2002 - 06:48 pm     I thought the economy and health care were the issues that the democrats were pushing, while the republicans were running more of a national security/war/tax cut type campaign? If the economy was the voters main concern, then I would have expected to have seen a stronger showing for the democrats. |
Marysafan | Monday, November 11, 2002 - 08:52 pm     Many voters vote for the candidate not the party. They vote for the person they think will do a good job of running things regardless of party affiliation. A vote for a Republican candidate is NOT necessarily a vote in support of the President...and most certainly not a vote in support of the war effort. It is a foolsih assumption. In Nebraska for example Tom Osborn (R) won with 93% of the vote. Tom Osborn was the long time coach of the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers football team. Tom Osborn would have been elected if he would have been a Democrat. Tom Osborn would have won if he had been running against Jesus! (Okay MAYBE that's an exageration) Nebraskan's love Tom Osborn. His election had NOTHING to with Geroge W. Bush or his policies regarding Iraq. In Iowa Tom Harkin (D) won because Tom Harkin is a senior member of the agricultural committee. Iowa is a heavily agricultural state. A vote for Tom Harkin had nothing to do with George W. Bush or his policies regarding Iraq. It had everything to do with maintaining his senior status on the agricultural committee. Seniority counts for something. Do you see what I am saying here? It is wrong to assume because voters voted for a candidate to represent them, that it had anything at all to do with support or non-support for George W. Bush or the policies on Iraq. There are a myraid of reasons for doing so. Some people vote for a candidate regarding other issues that are important to them. There are economic issues, social issues, science issues, tax issues, personal character issues, religious issues, as well as local, regional, and national issues. To try and pigeon hole a voters reason for voting for a particular candidate as being either for or against the President is simply wrong. It diminshes the process and the ability of the invidual candidate. If you assume that because the Republicans now have more seats by a slim margin in the Congress, that Americans are ready to fall in behind Geroge W. Bush and support him whole heartedly...you are on very shaky ground. Right now ...they are giving him the benefit of the doubt...but that's as far as it goes. There is still a substantial amount of skepticism. The country is still pretty much a country divided...right down the middle. |
Crossfire | Monday, November 11, 2002 - 09:06 pm     Yep. |
Goddessatlaw | Wednesday, November 13, 2002 - 08:31 am     Iraq just accepted the U.N. Resolution through it's ambassador to the U.N. Story is just breaking on Foxnews. |
Misslibra | Wednesday, November 13, 2002 - 08:38 am     Good I hope this means no war. |
Car54 | Wednesday, November 13, 2002 - 09:02 am     Thank God. |
Karuuna | Wednesday, November 13, 2002 - 09:14 am     Well, the next step is for them to declare what weapons they have. They may declare they have no weapons, which would probably not fly...The US believes it does, so we've still got a high probability of war. And it still won't satisfy Bush's call for "regime change". If he is determined to reach that goal, doesn't really matter if Iraq cooperates or not. |
Marysafan | Wednesday, November 13, 2002 - 09:18 am     Karunna is exactly right. |
Crossfire | Wednesday, November 27, 2002 - 03:41 pm     Game on. I know some were watching for this. The inspectors did some inspecting today. Now we wait. One of two things will happen, either the inspectors will find something, and all hell will break loose, or the inspectors will find nothing, and all hell will break loose. If something is found or the inspections are interfered with, the clock starts ticking on a new better life for the people of Iraq. Unfortunately, this will not come easy, for some people, on both sides, the damage will be irreparable. If nothing is found, the clock starts ticking for the people of the United States and its leaders who will have been found to be the international bullies that some claim. Credibility and future arguments of a similar nature will have been undermined before they are even made and the voice of 'the enemy' will have been strengthened on the world stage. Claims that it is the US that is the evil oppressor, that the republicans trumped up this war for power and oil will have been vindicated. The consequences of this I have not yet imagined. If something were to be found, it would be remarkable to see Saddam and whoever else is responsible submit themselves to the ICC and permit Iraq to be peacefully occupied for inspection and cleanup to avoid military action but I get the feeling I am drifting off into a fantasy world with those thoughts. Either way, the situation makes me very tense that I am unable to find a 100% win-win path on this road that I can put any faith into. In all honesty though, it is my hope that something is eventually found and this problem is finally dealt with. |
Denecee | Wednesday, November 27, 2002 - 04:11 pm     I don't understand why all hell will break loose if nothing is found!!! I mean Iraq isn't the only country that UN inspectors have inspected, is it? I don't know. It's all about our car's favorite drink. |
Crossfire | Wednesday, November 27, 2002 - 07:30 pm     Honestly, I have no idea, I checked the UN website, did a (half assed) search on weapons inspections and nothing but Iraq came up. People with a longer/better memory or better educated on this stuff might better be able to answer that one. I know that there have been things like weapons monitoring and whatnot like when the US, Russian governments agreed to reduce stockpiles of nukes, but I have no idea what weapon inspectors do when Iraq rolls up the welcome mat. As to why, I gave my current thoughts perhaps hell breaking loose might not be the best terminology, and even depending on how you swing, you might even consider it good to have the US kicked down a peg or two. I just happen to think a strong trusted (more or less by first world nations) US is good for overall world affairs. Your last bit had me scratching my head for a while. I thought you meant our car(54) and was trying to figure out what their favorite drink had to do with anything when I finally caught a clue..favorite drink=oil. Duh. Heh. You may be right, but I think there are more pressing matters at the moment. As it stands, we are doing just fine without Iraq's oil. Having said that, if we want to get under the skin of Saudi Arabia with terrorist funding accusations, it would be good to have a plan B for feeding the ride. |
Maris | Monday, December 30, 2002 - 08:48 pm     from the Washington Post: U.S. Had Key Role in Iraq Buildup Trade in Chemical Arms Allowed Despite Their Use on Iranians, Kurds By Michael Dobbs Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, December 30, 2002; Page A01 High on the Bush administration's list of justifications for war against Iraq are President Saddam Hussein's use of chemical weapons, nuclear and biological programs, and his contacts with international terrorists. What U.S. officials rarely acknowledge is that these offenses date back to a period when Hussein was seen in Washington as a valued ally. Among the people instrumental in tilting U.S. policy toward Baghdad during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war was Donald H. Rumsfeld, now defense secretary, whose December 1983 meeting with Hussein as a special presidential envoy paved the way for normalization of U.S.-Iraqi relations. Declassified documents show that Rumsfeld traveled to Baghdad at a time when Iraq was using chemical weapons on an "almost daily" basis in defiance of international conventions. The story of U.S. involvement with Saddam Hussein in the years before his 1990 attack on Kuwait -- which included large-scale intelligence sharing, supply of cluster bombs through a Chilean front company, and facilitating Iraq's acquisition of chemical and biological precursors -- is a topical example of the underside of U.S. foreign policy. It is a world in which deals can be struck with dictators, human rights violations sometimes overlooked, and accommodations made with arms proliferators, all on the principle that the "enemy of my enemy is my friend." Throughout the 1980s, Hussein's Iraq was the sworn enemy of Iran, then still in the throes of an Islamic revolution. U.S. officials saw Baghdad as a bulwark against militant Shiite extremism and the fall of pro-American states such as Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and even Jordan -- a Middle East version of the "domino theory" in Southeast Asia. That was enough to turn Hussein into a strategic partner and for U.S. diplomats in Baghdad to routinely refer to Iraqi forces as "the good guys," in contrast to the Iranians, who were depicted as "the bad guys." A review of thousands of declassified government documents and interviews with former policymakers shows that U.S. intelligence and logistical support played a crucial role in shoring up Iraqi defenses against the "human wave" attacks by suicidal Iranian troops. The administrations of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush authorized the sale to Iraq of numerous items that had both military and civilian applications, including poisonous chemicals and deadly biological viruses, such as anthrax and bubonic plague. Opinions differ among Middle East experts and former government officials about the pre-Iraqi tilt, and whether Washington could have done more to stop the flow to Baghdad of technology for building weapons of mass destruction. "It was a horrible mistake then, but we have got it right now," says Kenneth M. Pollack, a former CIA military analyst and author of "The Threatening Storm," which makes the case for war with Iraq. "My fellow [CIA] analysts and I were warning at the time that Hussein was a very nasty character. We were constantly fighting the State Department." "Fundamentally, the policy was justified," argues David Newton, a former U.S. ambassador to Baghdad, who runs an anti-Hussein radio station in Prague. "We were concerned that Iraq should not lose the war with Iran, because that would have threatened Saudi Arabia and the Gulf. Our long-term hope was that Hussein's government would become less repressive and more responsible." What makes present-day Hussein different from the Hussein of the 1980s, say Middle East experts, is the mellowing of the Iranian revolution and the August 1990 invasion of Kuwait that transformed the Iraqi dictator, almost overnight, from awkward ally into mortal enemy. In addition, the United States itself has changed. As a result of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, U.S. policymakers take a much more alarmist view of the threat posed by the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. U.S. Shifts in Iran-Iraq War When the Iran-Iraq war began in September 1980, with an Iraqi attack across the Shatt al Arab waterway that leads to the Persian Gulf, the United States was a bystander. The United States did not have diplomatic relations with either Baghdad or Tehran. U.S. officials had almost as little sympathy for Hussein's dictatorial brand of Arab nationalism as for the Islamic fundamentalism espoused by Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. As long as the two countries fought their way to a stalemate, nobody in Washington was disposed to intervene. By the summer of 1982, however, the strategic picture had changed dramatically. After its initial gains, Iraq was on the defensive, and Iranian troops had advanced to within a few miles of Basra, Iraq's second largest city. U.S. intelligence information suggested the Iranians might achieve a breakthrough on the Basra front, destabilizing Kuwait, the Gulf states, and even Saudi Arabia, thereby threatening U.S. oil supplies. "You have to understand the geostrategic context, which was very different from where we are now," said Howard Teicher, a former National Security Council official, who worked on Iraqi policy during the Reagan administration. "Realpolitik dictated that we act to prevent the situation from getting worse." To prevent an Iraqi collapse, the Reagan administration supplied battlefield intelligence on Iranian troop buildups to the Iraqis, sometimes through third parties such as Saudi Arabia. The U.S. tilt toward Iraq was enshrined in National Security Decision Directive 114 of Nov. 26, 1983, one of the few important Reagan era foreign policy decisions that still remains classified. According to former U.S. officials, the directive stated that the United States would do "whatever was necessary and legal" to prevent Iraq from losing the war with Iran. The presidential directive was issued amid a flurry of reports that Iraqi forces were using chemical weapons in their attempts to hold back the Iranians. In principle, Washington was strongly opposed to chemical warfare, a practice outlawed by the 1925 Geneva Protocol. In practice, U.S. condemnation of Iraqi use of chemical weapons ranked relatively low on the scale of administration priorities, particularly compared with the all-important goal of preventing an Iranian victory. Thus, on Nov. 1, 1983, a senior State Department official, Jonathan T. Howe, told Secretary of State George P. Shultz that intelligence reports showed that Iraqi troops were resorting to "almost daily use of CW" against the Iranians. But the Reagan administration had already committed itself to a large-scale diplomatic and political overture to Baghdad, culminating in several visits by the president's recently appointed special envoy to the Middle East, Donald H. Rumsfeld. Secret talking points prepared for the first Rumsfeld visit to Baghdad enshrined some of the language from NSDD 114, including the statement that the United States would regard "any major reversal of Iraq's fortunes as a strategic defeat for the West." When Rumsfeld finally met with Hussein on Dec. 20, he told the Iraqi leader that Washington was ready for a resumption of full diplomatic relations, according to a State Department report of the conversation. Iraqi leaders later described themselves as "extremely pleased" with the Rumsfeld visit, which had "elevated U.S.-Iraqi relations to a new level." In a September interview with CNN, Rumsfeld said he "cautioned" Hussein about the use of chemical weapons, a claim at odds with declassified State Department notes of his 90-minute meeting with the Iraqi leader. A Pentagon spokesman, Brian Whitman, now says that Rumsfeld raised the issue not with Hussein, but with Iraqi foreign minister Tariq Aziz. The State Department notes show that he mentioned it largely in passing as one of several matters that "inhibited" U.S. efforts to assist Iraq. Rumsfeld has also said he had "nothing to do" with helping Iraq in its war against Iran. Although former U.S. officials agree that Rumsfeld was not one of the architects of the Reagan administration's tilt toward Iraq -- he was a private citizen when he was appointed Middle East envoy -- the documents show that his visits to Baghdad led to closer U.S.-Iraqi cooperation on a wide variety of fronts. Washington was willing to resume diplomatic relations immediately, but Hussein insisted on delaying such a step until the following year. As part of its opening to Baghdad, the Reagan administration removed Iraq from the State Department terrorism list in February 1982, despite heated objections from Congress. Without such a move, Teicher says, it would have been "impossible to take even the modest steps we were contemplating" to channel assistance to Baghdad. Iraq -- along with Syria, Libya and South Yemen -- was one of four original countries on the list, which was first drawn up in 1979. Some former U.S. officials say that removing Iraq from the terrorism list provided an incentive to Hussein to expel the Palestinian guerrilla leader Abu Nidal from Baghdad in 1983. On the other hand, Iraq continued to play host to alleged terrorists throughout the '80s. The most notable was Abu Abbas, leader of the Palestine Liberation Front, who found refuge in Baghdad after being expelled from Tunis for masterminding the 1985 hijacking of the cruise ship Achille Lauro, which resulted in the killing of an elderly American tourist. Iraq Lobbies for Arms While Rumsfeld was talking to Hussein and Aziz in Baghdad, Iraqi diplomats and weapons merchants were fanning out across Western capitals for a diplomatic charm offensive-cum-arms buying spree. In Washington, the key figure was the Iraqi chargé d'affaires, Nizar Hamdoon, a fluent English speaker who impressed Reagan administration officials as one of the most skillful lobbyists in town. "He arrived with a blue shirt and a white tie, straight out of the mafia," recalled Geoffrey Kemp, a Middle East specialist in the Reagan White House. "Within six months, he was hosting suave dinner parties at his residence, which he parlayed into a formidable lobbying effort. He was particularly effective with the American Jewish community." One of Hamdoon's favorite props, says Kemp, was a green Islamic scarf allegedly found on the body of an Iranian soldier. The scarf was decorated with a map of the Middle East showing a series of arrows pointing toward Jerusalem. Hamdoon used to "parade the scarf" to conferences and congressional hearings as proof that an Iranian victory over Iraq would result in "Israel becoming a victim along with the Arabs." According to a sworn court affidavit prepared by Teicher in 1995, the United States "actively supported the Iraqi war effort by supplying the Iraqis with billions of dollars of credits, by providing military intelligence and advice to the Iraqis, and by closely monitoring third country arms sales to Iraq to make sure Iraq had the military weaponry required." Teicher said in the affidavit that former CIA director William Casey used a Chilean company, Cardoen, to supply Iraq with cluster bombs that could be used to disrupt the Iranian human wave attacks. Teicher refuses to discuss the affidavit. At the same time the Reagan administration was facilitating the supply of weapons and military components to Baghdad, it was attempting to cut off supplies to Iran under "Operation Staunch." Those efforts were largely successful, despite the glaring anomaly of the 1986 Iran-contra scandal when the White House publicly admitted trading arms for hostages, in violation of the policy that the United States was trying to impose on the rest of the world. Although U.S. arms manufacturers were not as deeply involved as German or British companies in selling weaponry to Iraq, the Reagan administration effectively turned a blind eye to the export of "dual use" items such as chemical precursors and steel tubes that can have military and civilian applications. According to several former officials, the State and Commerce departments promoted trade in such items as a way to boost U.S. exports and acquire political leverage over Hussein. When United Nations weapons inspectors were allowed into Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War, they compiled long lists of chemicals, missile components, and computers from American suppliers, including such household names as Union Carbide and Honeywell, which were being used for military purposes. A 1994 investigation by the Senate Banking Committee turned up dozens of biological agents shipped to Iraq during the mid-'80s under license from the Commerce Department, including various strains of anthrax, subsequently identified by the Pentagon as a key component of the Iraqi biological warfare program. The Commerce Department also approved the export of insecticides to Iraq, despite widespread suspicions that they were being used for chemical warfare. The fact that Iraq was using chemical weapons was hardly a secret. In February 1984, an Iraqi military spokesman effectively acknowledged their use by issuing a chilling warning to Iran. "The invaders should know that for every harmful insect, there is an insecticide capable of annihilating it . . . and Iraq possesses this annihilation insecticide." Chemicals Kill Kurds In late 1987, the Iraqi air force began using chemical agents against Kurdish resistance forces in northern Iraq that had formed a loose alliance with Iran, according to State Department reports. The attacks, which were part of a "scorched earth" strategy to eliminate rebel-controlled villages, provoked outrage on Capitol Hill and renewed demands for sanctions against Iraq. The State Department and White House were also outraged -- but not to the point of doing anything that might seriously damage relations with Baghdad. "The U.S.-Iraqi relationship is . . . important to our long-term political and economic objectives," Assistant Secretary of State Richard W. Murphy wrote in a September 1988 memorandum that addressed the chemical weapons question. "We believe that economic sanctions will be useless or counterproductive to influence the Iraqis." Bush administration spokesmen have cited Hussein's use of chemical weapons "against his own people" -- and particularly the March 1988 attack on the Kurdish village of Halabjah -- to bolster their argument that his regime presents a "grave and gathering danger" to the United States. The Iraqis continued to use chemical weapons against the Iranians until the end of the Iran-Iraq war. A U.S. air force intelligence officer, Rick Francona, reported finding widespread use of Iraqi nerve gas when he toured the Al Faw peninsula in southern Iraq in the summer of 1988, after its recapture by the Iraqi army. The battlefield was littered with atropine injectors used by panicky Iranian troops as an antidote against Iraqi nerve gas attacks. Far from declining, the supply of U.S. military intelligence to Iraq actually expanded in 1988, according to a 1999 book by Francona, "Ally to Adversary: an Eyewitness Account of Iraq's Fall from Grace." Informed sources said much of the battlefield intelligence was channeled to the Iraqis by the CIA office in Baghdad. Although U.S. export controls to Iraq were tightened up in the late 1980s, there were still many loopholes. In December 1988, Dow Chemical sold $1.5 million of pesticides to Iraq, despite U.S. government concerns that they could be used as chemical warfare agents. An Export-Import Bank official reported in a memorandum that he could find "no reason" to stop the sale, despite evidence that the pesticides were "highly toxic" to humans and would cause death "from asphyxiation." The U.S. policy of cultivating Hussein as a moderate and reasonable Arab leader continued right up until he invaded Kuwait in August 1990, documents show. When the then-U.S. ambassador to Baghdad, April Glaspie, met with Hussein on July 25, 1990, a week before the Iraqi attack on Kuwait, she assured him that Bush "wanted better and deeper relations," according to an Iraqi transcript of the conversation. "President Bush is an intelligent man," the ambassador told Hussein, referring to the father of the current president. "He is not going to declare an economic war against Iraq." "Everybody was wrong in their assessment of Saddam," said Joe Wilson, Glaspie's former deputy at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, and the last U.S. official to meet with Hussein. "Everybody in the Arab world told us that the best way to deal with Saddam was to develop a set of economic and commercial relationships that would have the effect of moderating his behavior. History will demonstrate that this was a miscalculation." |
Goddessatlaw | Monday, December 30, 2002 - 08:52 pm     Maris - haven't you heard? "The enemy of my enemy is my friend." It's always been the case on both sides of the fence, which is why the j*goff has to go now before he gives Osama access to his little chemistry set. PS talking 'bout Hussein, not Rumsfeld, in case my post left room for confusion. |
Sadiesmom | Tuesday, December 31, 2002 - 10:34 am     Well Godess, we must have a lot of friends, we are certainly making enough enemies. As to Hussein, if he is our current enemy, does that make Iran a friend now? DO you think our government can come up with a list of friends so we don't have to be disloyal by objecting to some of the actions? And, finally, if we know where the weapons of mass destruction are, why can't we tell the inspectors where to look? Why make them guess and then mock them for not finding anything? |
Crossfire | Tuesday, December 31, 2002 - 11:09 am     Iran is a nation that we hope is on the edge of revolution. I think the US would rather just sit on the sidelines and wait for them to tip over. The people of that nation seem to be willing to adopt western values given half a chance. How about we just say, we would like to be friends with the people of Iran, and the leaders can go jump in the lake for all we care. On Iraq, knowing that they are there, and knowing precisely where they are is two different things. The inspectors primary job is to verify the claims made in the report and highlight cases where reality does not match up to the documentation. That the document is not complete has already been addressed by some who have seen it, and have already declared material breach on that matter. The next step is the report from the inspectors themselves which is coming toward the end of the month. Once all the data is in, the UNSC will decide how to proceed. |
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