What if Bush wasn't lying and it was faulty intel?

You obviously don't understand why the UN inspectors went to Iraq. They did not go to search for WMD.

Most of you guys are so damn ignorant concerning this subject that I won't waste my time tonight.

 

Wow. What a novel thought. I never would have thought of it myself.

Ah. So from now on we wait until we obtain French, German, Russian, and Chinese intel before we go to war?

We have the finest intelligence capabilities in the world, flawed as they are. No thanks.

Like all of the other arguments for letting inspections continue, it is pretty lame. It ignores the core of the problem: Saddam would still have been in power. Saddam's regime was the disease, the WMD were only a symptom.

Would the inspections have found those BW production trailers? Maybe, maybe not. Would they have removed Saddam from power? No. Next idea...

Since they would never have removed Saddam from power - at best, the only thing they were capable of doing was temporarily forcing him to curb his WMD programs, only to restart them once the inspectors left - they were a huge waste of time.

The US was competent enough to take the steps necessary to end Saddam's regime and any threat it posed to anyone once and for all. The UN was competent enough to have meetings. And argue. And generally accomplish nothing. As it always does.

The UN isn't into the intelligence business, and I don't mean that as a joke. They have no intelligence gathering function, or even any body designed to gather intel. They are literally not in the business.

Only national governments maintain intelligence services.

You have failed to make this case. Try again.

 

They went to search for suspect material. That includes WMD.

 

No, they did not. UNSCOM searched for banned materials, UNMOVIC's mission was to simply verify that Saddam had complied with UN resolutions. They were not designed as a search team, although they eventually had to evolve into one when it became clear that Saddam was not complying.

But it was not supposed to be part of UNMOVIC's mission.

 

exactly.

 

Yes, exactly.

 

That includes WMD.

 

That included verifying that he was WMD free. It did not include intrusive inspections. UNMOVIC never had that capability.

It was not part of their mission.

 

How would you verify if Iraq is WMD free without searching for the weapons?

 

Oh, they could poke around a little, but most of their work was just poring over documents, mainly Iraq's December declaration. But they were not allowed to kick down doors like UNSCOM did.

They were not designed to be a search team, rezdawg. Stop trying to continually rewrite history and go look it up.

 

I dont care if they were or werent designed to be a search team. Thats not important. The matter of the fact was that part of their job was to see to it whether or not Iraq had a WMD program. Its that simple.

I never mentioned that they must "kick down doors" to search for WMD.

 

It was important (you are correct - it has no relevance now ). A search team would have had people on it who were expert detectives, it would have had more funding, and more and better equipment. UNMOVIC had none of those things. In fact when 1441 was passed all it had was a small office in New York with a dozen-or-so strong staff...

And because they were never designed to do that job, they could never hope to do aq good job of it.

We have a 1300 or so person task force on the job, and look at the problems we're having. It is a huge country. UNMOVIC never had more than a hundred people actually looking for WMD.

That is the only way to do it when the host isn't cooperating and is hiding things from you. That is what UNSCOM had to do.

 

What point of mine are you arguing against?

Are you just sticking up for johnheath or did i really say something that was so offline?


My first line was..."they went to search for suspect material".



http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2263680.stm

What are the inspectors' new powers?

The resolution gives the teams unrestricted inspection rights, including scrutiny of Saddam Hussein's palace compounds and other sites that have been exempt in the past.

Weapons inspectors will, for the first time, be able to take witnesses and their families out of Iraq so that they can give evidence without fear of reprisals.

Analysts say the resolution requires the Iraqis to "bend over backwards" to satisfy the inspectors.

"This implies that they are going to have to fling open their doors, invite the inspectors to go anywhere and everywhere, reveal anything that they can think of about their capabilities," Rosemary Hollis of the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London told the BBC.

Previously, Iraqi officials often failed to co-operate with inspectors and thwarted efforts to carry out effective inspections.

Failure to comply on Iraq's part could lead to military action.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I guess kicking down doors was part of the deal too.

 

It doesn't say that at all.

The Iraqi burden is to invite and bend over backwards to comply with a decade-old mandate. No "police" power of intrustion is stated or implied for the inspectors.

Sounds like they greatest new power of the inspectors was to be able to liberate informants from the tyranny of Saddam.

 

If Bush had used this as a pretext for war, I would have more respect for him. Instead, he harped and harped on the WMD, and now that none can be found, his credibility is in question.

 

I always thought that the WMD was a non-starter anyway. I am surprised they've found nothing; but if we do find anything, remember, the serial numbers will be scratched off and the receipts will have gone missing. Remember, if Saddam acted with impunity, he knew at one time we would do nothing about it. A lot of stuff sold to him was marked MADE IN U.S.A.

 

forget it

 

Who cares, the deed is done...the Iraqi's and the world are better off....

Time to move on......nothing to see here.

DD