| Iraq has the capacity to buy what it needs through oil money. Otherwise, it would not have had the fourth largest military establishment in the world. It was clearly superior to the regimes of Arabia, and therefore could easily have gained their wealth, as well, had the will of the United States to resist faltered. But the main thing is not, in fact, the ability of the Iraqis to field and supply a conventional force, but their ability to research, construct, and amass a stockpile of unconventional weapons, and particularly to use them clandestinely, either through Iraqi intelligence or proxies. In any event, if it is necessary to say, I have no doubt that Iraq could not accomplish its greatest ambitions, but that does not mean that it could not create havoc in the attempt. So, yes, Iraq was not as great a threat as German, in terms of being able to conquer and hold territory, but......so what? It may have had, or been ready to develop, at least as great a capacity to amass corposes, through the greater efficiency of WMDs........ |
