Well, I think Saddam is a bad guy who is really bad. Not just a misguided well-meaning schmuck demonized by the US and the media. Is something like this your opinion?
Pretty much. The Shah of Iran was a really bad guy; we put him into power and supported him throughout his regime of torture and mutilation. Saddam was/is a really bad guy and we provided him conventional weapons and after he gassed his own people, we sent him more conventional weapons. Mexico is slammed by the UN for using torture on it's own people. The US doesn't care; Mexico likes us.
Loose or non-existent controls on things like anthrax I consider a bone-headed mistake.
Not a big deal. The Reagan Administration declassified the nuke design information on Fat Boy, etc., Iran picked up a copy through a FOIA request.
Loose or non-existent controls on things like anthrax I consider a bone-headed mistake.
Look at the dates. If they didn't get it from daily intelligence reports, then it was in the Washington Post.
Re. bio-chem markers - you're talking about analsyis of the anthrax DNA to identify the exact strain, I presume. It wouldn't matter if the anthrax were supplied to Iraq in small lab doses and propagated and weaponized by them. The DNA would still be the same.
There's two types of markers, DNA markers and markers that determine the country of origin where the material is weaponized. Or, what technique is used to make the material suspend in air. That may sound easy, but technologically it's the most difficult challenge in making a weapon. Each country has it's own technique for weaponizing anthrax.
People who are overly critical of the US tend to have a view of the US government as all-knowing and all-powerful.
I don't know that I would agree with that. I might agree that people that view the US government is all-knowing and all-powerful are typically critical. I believe that people are people and the people in Government are a slice out of the general population. Some are good, some are greedy and some are liars. Some relish in power. Something like 1/3 of the population have hemmoroids. The way I figure it, 1/3 of the Administration and Congress have herroroids.
On the other hand we do know that we've been lied to on the Bay of Pigs, Cambodia, Viet Nam and Iran-Contra, we've been illegally monitored by intelligence agencies under the direction of Nixon, J Edgar Hoover. And of course, most important to conservatives, we've been lied to about BJs in the Oval Office.
We're told that Cuba exports bioterror technology, though there is no evidence whatsoever that they have; I call that lying. Tell me why I should possibly believe that Bush is telling the truth about wanting free trade. Perhaps, when Thomas Jefferson made mention of "eternal vigilance" he was on to something.
CB typically writes good posts.
jttmab |
