Iraq may target children in revenge attacks From our colleague Richard M. Bennett at AFI. Saddam Hussein may use a deadly virus to target infants and young children in Israel and elsewhere in revenge for the deaths of over one million children claimed to have died in Iraq as a result of eleven years of US inspired international sanctions. As long ago as 1990 it was known that Iraq had developed a variant of Rotavirus that kills many children in third world countries and may have been used already as a weapon on Kurdish targets. Now, a potentially deadly new strain simply known as Agent R is available to Saddam's Special Chemical Corps established in 1996 to rebuild Iraq's CBW capability and to acquire or develop new strains and the technology to use them as effective weapons. Rotavirus, particularly in its newly developed and highly virulent form causes acute gastro-enteritis, diarrhoea, dehydration and death in infants. An attack on Turkey, Israel or any of the United States new Arab allies, such as Egypt or Jordan could cause horrendous casualties amongst young children. Iraq rebuilds it special weapons capability Rotavirus is but one of a wide number of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons under development in Iraq and these programs are mirrored in Iran and to some extent in both Syria and Libya. Iraqi nuclear facilities, though regularly targeted by US warplanes have continued to develop weapons of mass destruction. By the mid-1990's Iraqi scientists had made some progress in the development of a relatively crude nuclear device with a core of highly enriched uranium, this also involved the use of a shaped conventional charge to activate a nuclear explosion by uniformly compressing a uranium sphere. Iraq has access to a stock of at least 100 tons of HMX(High Melting Explosive), the most effective conventional explosive used to trigger nuclear explosions Although the first working model was destroyed in a US air attack, an improved version is now believed to be fully functional. It is intended to fit this high radiation or 'dirty bomb' into the nose cone of the latest variant of the Badr ballistic missile capable of reaching all of Israel and much of Turkey and the rest of the Middle East. Iraq's capability has been boosted by an influx of Chinese and North Korean missile and weapon technology, engineers and scientists. As the levels of co-operation grow with Tehran it is expected that elements of Iraq's most vulnerable research will be temporarily moved to Iran and further co-operation can be also expected in missile and nuclear development, particularly as both countries use similar technology. Israel is likely to press the United States to take early action against Iraq and probably Iran or to allow the IDF a free hand to take out research facilities developing systems likely to prove a threat to Israel's survival. The bleak prospect is, that in the absence of any real chance of effective negotiated peace settlement's anywhere in the Middle East, that sooner or later weapons of mass destruction will be used with incalculable results for this highly volatile region and for both the US and Europe. http://www.orbat.com/site/americagoestowar.html I predict that if lots of Israeli kids start contracting Rotavirus some day, Iraq will turn into an uninhabitable nuclear wasteland the very next day.
The Russians just want to sell weapons to Saddam. He buys lots of them... A new regime would probably be buying weapons from us. The Russians wouldn't like that.
Hmmmm, Russia is against our attack just because it wants to sell weapons to Iraq. Maybe the US just wants to invade Iraq so that we can install an regime that will buy weapons from us and not the Russians. Is this all just a struggle to get markets for arms sales? Interesting theory. Here I had thought it was all about installing an emir to do oil deals with the Bushes or their campaign contributors, pleasing Israel, or making dubya look "tall in the saddle."
Or maybe just maybe it is to rid the world of a government that has used weapons of mass destruction on its own people, and is planning on a buildup of such weapons to use on it's enemies too. I don't favor a military campaign, but a covert op is OK with me. DaDakota
that's just plain sad. How can people actually rationalize targeting infants? Lil children. Goddamit.
What an idiot. He's so far gone that he doesn't even realize that such an action would mark the end of his regime, and ultimately his time on Earth. What a dangerous, horrifying individual.
glynch: Yeah, that's what it's all about. We just want to sell weapons to the Iraqis... That is one of the more ridiculous conspiracy theories I've heard from you yet. As far as I'm concerned, the Russians (or French, or Germans, or Chinese, or whoever) can join us and sell them weapons later - I will gladly give up those markets to have their support - or they can withold support and forfeit that market themselves. The new regime will probably be very friendly to the US if we're the only ones who help to liberate them. Think about that, sourpus. Saddam's gotta go. I know you want him to stay in power and develop his WMD, and I'm sure you'd be thrilled if he sent some CBW SCUDs Israel's way, but...
And DaDakota: I'll tell you ahead of time that a simple covert op won't work. Been tried numerous times, and failed every time. Saddam is the best protected man on the planet, bar none. The only way to win this one is to at least threaten a massive attack (like, by sending a few heavy divisions into the area), and if the threat fails, use it. The idea is to force mass defections within the Iraqi Army (regular - the Republican Guards probably won't defect at first), and that can only be done if they know we're serious. They'll know we're serious when we put lots of ground troops (and lotsa armor) on the line. The 1st Cavalry Division has been quietly moving over to the theatre. The 3rd Infantry Division (mech - a heavy division) is scheduled to move after training. The 4th Infantry Division (mech - also heavy) is training in desert warfare at Ft. Hood, with a deployment to follow. The 82nd is always ready... 3rd Army HQ has been moved to Kuwait. These moves are all verifiable via public news sources. There is more going on than even these (public) moves, which I will not comment upon... You figure it out. It ain't gonna be a covert op.
boy: First off, . Second, I'm just telling it like it is. Saddam send Rotavirus to Israel and start killing infants, Jews send nukes to Saddam, and he never do anything bad again. BTW, why is it that the prospect of Israeli infants being murdered doesn't appear to bother you too much? Oh yeah, that whole "Destroy Israel and Kill the Zionists!" thing, I forgot... Edging closer to the ignore list again...
boy, bravo. Though you have to remember that killing infants with disease is still a little worse than killing them with nukes or slowly starving them to death with sanctions. On a slightly different subject, targeting Jewish children seems a bit ironic to me because of the Passover story. Maybe they'll be ok if they paint their door frames with blood?
Well, Juan, one act would purposefully and specifically target children, and would be done with malicious intent. The other hurts children as a regrettable side effect, and is totally preventable. All he has to do is give up his WMD. It is that simple. And not doing so is totally indefensible, so I wouldn't bother trying. But feel free if you must...
If you specifically set a policy for the intended purpose of harming children, you're a jackass. Jackasses should be eliminated. Saddam Hussein is a jackass. Saddam Hussein should be eliminated. See how easy this is?? Those of you who defend this by trying to divert from it are ridiculous! I feel much more strongly about this issue them my post lets on...maybe that's because I'm a father of a 2 year old boy. I am intensely pissed
