So when you look into your crayon box, you only see two colors: black and white? I chose to believe neither Bush nor Saddam.
Exactly. No Worries, Blastoff and Glynch - this doesn't bother you???? He is hiding items that they KNOW Iraq had back in 1998 and now they are just gone? He is not honoring his agreements, the UN is not honoring 1441. These weapons can be distributed to terrorist to use against us. That bothers me a lot.
He is hiding items that they KNOW Iraq had back in 1998 and now they are just gone? He is not honoring his agreements, the UN is not honoring 1441. The problem is that the UN isn't not-honoring 1441. It was a ridiculously weak resolution contrary to some people's opinions at the time. To get it to pass, the language was specifically changed NOT to say that it would automatically mean war if Iraq complied. The French won that battle. As far as the other countries are concerned, "serious consequences" could be sending a bunch of UN troops in as part of the inspection team like the French/German proposal offers. Here's the discussion at the time of the original resolution: http://bbs.clutchcity.net/php3/showthread.php?s=&threadid=44962 It may have looked like the resolution authorized war, but it wasn't the intention of all the signers by any stretch of the imagination. All they did is delay making the tough decisions until later.
But when will they decide? What is enough for them to authorize any real action? Will he have to actually use them for anything to get done?
Thanks, vengeance, for reminding me. I'll be there. I don't like a number of the groups listed as endorsing it, believe it or not, some of them are too undemocratic for my tastes, but this is a coalition of all those who oppose Gulf War II. I don't need to like all the people there.
But when will they decide? What is enough for them to authorize any real action? Will he have to actually use them for anything to get done? That's a good question, and that's where I think the Bush Admin has failed. They have managed to alienate all these other countries instead of working with them. After someone calls you "increasingly irrelevent" or "old Europe", how willing are you or your people going to be in supporting that country? The fact that, for the last 3 months, we did the whole "we have evidence, but we're not going to show you now" thing only waited for world opinion to turn against the war - there was no alternative voice justifying the war. Once people are against a war, they aren't likely to change their mind - it's much easier to go the other way. The administartion miserably failed the battle of public opinion here. Democratic leaders of countries with a huge anti-war population are less likely to support any kind of war -- all the international evidence in the world won't change things. We certainly wouldn't get involved in a war that the American people were against. The point we're at now is a big mess. How you get out of it? I have no idea.
UN Resolution?? Israel has been breaking UN resolution for half of its existence and it has never been "disarmed" or invaded. It just recieves nuclear weapons from the US as a handout. We talk about Expansionist as to why Saddam was attacked, what about Israel? They are expanding every day with Illegal (based on the UN resolutions) settlements?? We pick and choose which resolutions we adhere to in order to serve our best interests.
Well, that's b.c. it is in OUR national interest, Khan. I'm not defending it & it is hypocritical, but unless YOU want to give up your AC, SUV, 24-7 electricity, etc - this is how it must be. The US, Europe, & Japan have something like 10-15% of the world's total population, yet use something like 1/2 - 2/3s of the worlds "resources!" Do you understand what this means? Our political, economic, and above all MILITARY dominance is what allows us (Europe & Japan) to all drive huge SUV's, have fresh water & food 24-7, electricity & natural gas on tap, and so on & so on... THIS is cold, hard reality & we can all piss & moan about global injustice, but unless everyone is willing to make huge sacrifices in lifestyle, comfort, health, and safety - to ensure that some guy in Bangladesh, for example, gets his fair share of the loot - this is the way it will be. Maybe technology will advance to the point that we can uplift everyone, but until that day things will go on much as they have before...
From yahoo news. ******************** U.N. Finds No Weapons of Mass Destruction 37 minutes ago By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer UNITED NATIONS - Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix told the Security Council on Friday his teams have not uncovered any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq but that Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) has not accounted for many banned weapons that his government is suspected of having. Blix's counterpart, nuclear chief Mohamed ElBaradei, told the council that inspectors found no evidence Iraq had resumed its nuclear weapons program and said inspectors could do their job without Iraq's full cooperation. The reports, far more measured than the harsh assessments the inspectors issued two weeks ago to the council, were strong fodder for Russia, France and China, which responded with calls for continued inspections and resisted any move toward war. An angry-looking Secretary of State Colin Powell warned the world not to be taken in by "tricks that are being played on us." "The threat of force must remain," Powell said, adding that Iraq was strengthening its links with terror groups. "We cannot wait for one of these terrible weapons to turn up in our cities." China, France and Russia, which all hold veto-power on the council, said inspections were working. "There is one point of principle that we all must answer: Must the inspectors continue their work in Iraq in the interest of a political settlement? Are the conditions there? Russia answers yes to that question," Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said. His remarks, like those of French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, were greeted by applause. The rare response caught the council by surprise and led German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer to ask for order inside the chamber. .............................. Blix
Rburrito, We are the strongest nation on the planet because of the strength of our economy. Oil is a commodity like grain, soybean or orange juice. What nation would not want to sell its product in this global economy? Our political and military actions are not allowing us to recieve oil, but is making the supply diminish and increasing the volatility of the oil supply. If there were no Middle East conflict with Israel why the hell would the Arabs care about who they sell their oil to?? But because we meddle in their countries business, militarily prop up an unpopular regime in Saudi and support tyrants like the Shah of Iran, we are adversely affecting our economic power because of political foolishness.
Ironically Glynch, The MSNBC article covering the same conference was titled: "U.S. meets strong U.N. resistance" Quite misleading when the main focus was to announce that no WMD's had been found.
I find it somewhat curious how so many here can simply fail to hear the "the Al Samoud is clearly a prohibited item, and Iraq refuses to get rid of it", and "Iraq has failed to account for thousands of liters of anthrax, sarin, VX, botulinum, etc - it all just apparently disappeared out of thin air" proclaimations made by Blix. What I heard was this: Blix's tone was very conciliatory and soothing, but what he repeatedly pointed out was that Iraq has made virtually no progress on the substance of the inspections, and is still in violation of resolutions 687 and 1441 (bothy of which still apply here). It would appear that many of you mistook his tone for his substantive claims, and hence misinterpreted the entire presentation. Contrary to what glynch and others may desire to believe, the administration is almost certainly very happy with today's report, because it said effectively that A) Iraq is still not cooperating, B) there are still thousands of liters of WMD that Iraq has failed to account for, and C) Iraq is in direct and blatant violation of UN resolutions with its refusal to hive up its prohibited missile production. If you actually paid attention to what Blix was saying instead of just hearing the musical lilt of his voice, then you would have heard him say all three of these things. Clearly, this jibes with what the administration has been saying all along, so why would the "pro-war" crowd, as glynch so misleadingly puts it, be disappointed? At any rate, it is irrelevant. We will not get another UN resolution on Iraq (not that one is legally necessary - even 1441 was unnecessary from a legal standpoint, 687 was sufficient), and the UN will fail to act - and be mortally wounded through its own inaction and apathy. We will lead a coalition anyway to topple Saddam. And, I am happy to say, nothing that glynch and his friends try to conjure up will stop it. We will do what has to be done.
Cool, I'll catch you out there then. I've never been to a protest before, so I'm kindof excited. Drop by and say hi if you see me -- I'll be wearing my Red Houston Rockets hat.
The main issue now is how to get out of this while saving face. If we go to war over Blix's report today there will be major international backlash, that will cause instant discord here in the US. The last thing the White house wants obviously, slipping polls/ support.
