| Saddam either had the stockpiles, and carted them to Syria, or he had the means to restart programs as soon as sanctions were lifted. Either way, he was a threat to the stability of the region, and, through his connections with terrorist groups, a direct threat to the United States. It is not true that he had no connection to Al- Qaida, what is true is that an operational collaboration has not been proven, but there were contacts. Additionally, he had ties to Hamas and other organizations. The nature and aspirations of his regime, which could charitably be called Neo- fascist, including the exaltation of the Arab "race" above others, the call for perpetual struggle, and the dream of establishing Arab hegemony, was well- known. It was known that he sought fissile uranium on the blackmarket, and that he did business with North Korea to augment delivery systems, which was borne out. It was known that he had stockpiled all this stuff, far out of proportion to defense needs, in the first place, when the inspectors first went in in the early '90s. We did not just pull his name out of a hat. |
