What if we just pull everyone out of the region? No more no fly zones or embargos? Just got our nose out of the Middle East? Do you think Iraq would attack someone and not know that would be the end of their regime? Then work on Israel allocating land to the Palestinians in return for support? Would the world be a worse place or better place? As a Republican, I'm growing very tired of "my party".
So you are saying that we know about Iraq's WMD sites ... And we are not telling the UN weapons inspection regime about it because we want our troups to be dodging WMDs duirng the invasion???
Ahhh...once again, anyone who disagrees with you is uninformed, stupid,a coward, insane, or anti-American, right? If you only look at things with blinders on, you will only see what you want to...
You assume that sharing the info with the inspectors will result in the weapons being located and destroyed.
No Worries: Practically every time we've told the inspectors specifics regarding the whereabouts of their WMD sites, the Iraqis have found out about it and cleared the site before the inspectors arrived. The UNMOVIC, just as UNSCOM before it, has leaks. Spies for the Iraqis. This is well known to our intel. Why would we want the Iraqis to move their WMD again? Then we lose track of them, and there's no guarantee that we find them again. This way we can be sure that those we know about right now will be secured before they can be used. Macbeth: Wow, what a substantive, enlightening post, MacBeth! I feel smarter after reading it! Thanks!!! glynch: Well, I have never really liked the idea of bribing others for their support (that basically makes them mercenaries, and mercs are untrustworthy), but in some cases it would be acceptable. Such as this case - a northern front would be much desired, and all we really wanted was passage anyway... As for questioning our policies, I immediately question any policy that can affect our security one way or another, especially since it may now affect me personally (getting sent to a warzone). Perhaps if you questioned our policies in an unbiased manner, you would come around to seeing that there are times when forcible action is the only way to ensure our security? Instead of blindly assuming that force is never justified, and that the US is wrong by default?
Take a look at your 'substantive, enlightening post' that I was responding to...Can you really be so short sighted as to give a one-line dismissive, insulting post without any merit, and then, when it is responded to, actually get sarcastic and pompous about the substance of the response!?
The argument has also been made that telling the inspectors results in the materials being moved before they locate them, thus making it more difficult to have the materials destroyed before they can be used on coalition soldiers.
The argument has also been made that telling the inspectors results in the materials being moved before they locate them, thus making it more difficult to have the materials destroyed before they can be used on coalition soldiers. I don't why but this really pegs my BS meter. It is the excuse one would expect from intell services to cover their own deficiencies.
No Worries: During the previous inspections regime, we had satphotos of Iraqis literally running crap out of the back door of facilities as the inspectors were pulling up into the parking lot. As the inspectors do not announce their destinations, and usually take circuitous routes to their destinations, there is only one possible way that the Iraqis could have known ahead of time where the inspectors were going: someone tipped them off. It is not just a bunch of BS that the administration made up. In fact, it began during the Clinton administration. And there is good reason to believe that it continues to this day. Many of the facilities the inspectors have hit with surprise inspections have been found to be spotless - I mean recently cleaned. There is at least one instance where the inspectors actually passed a chemical cleaning truck on the way to the facility. Now, if only the inspectors know where the day's work will lead them, then how do the Iraqis keep finding out ahead of time? Unless they have an army of competent psychics in their employ, there is only one way.
You may be 100% right. I don't know. But I do know that the US has been pumping out boatloads of BS wrt the pending war with Iraq. Their general lack of credibility of this subject draws all of what they have to say in question.
Most of what they've had to say about the issue is just a rehash of what was known during the Clinton administration, just never acted upon. The only new revelations I've seen have to do with Al Qaeda-Iraq ties, and you can take that or leave it for what it's worth. We've already debated that evidence... You either believe it or you don't. But most of it is old news/common knowledge.
