I am referring to matters as they appeared almost two years ago. The point of reposting it was to remind everyone of the reason Saddam was considered a particularly ripe target.
And I must therefore remind you that matters as they appeared almost two years ago increasingly appear to have been specifically engineered (spoon fed selective facts / cherry picked to support only their assertion) by the Bush administration.
How difficult is that to believe, in the face of a rapidly building body of evidence?
I'll answer the rhetorical question, its only difficult to believe for those who refuse to believe their (party) government can do no wrong.
Well no thanks on that. I'm quite prepared to question both conservative and liberal motives on all subjects, especially when available evidence suggests we've been blindsided by a possibly corrupt (morally at least) leadership.
Democracy is for the people; its incumbent on the people to rise up and make sure that government leaders remember this by actively questioning things which are questionable.
Your conclusion is false. The sanctions regime was "busted", and Saddam was paying off people to push for an end to containment.
Incorrect. The sanctions regime worked. Corruption happens wherever there are sums involved and that potential criminal matter should be and will be completely investigated.
Your conclusion demands that we believe the President of the United States, at the time George Bush, would sit right back and say "great, pull all sanctions, he's safe!".
You know that is BS.
If Bush could make an attempt to appeal for solidarity to go to war, he certainly could make, and win, an appeal to ensure a permanent verification strategy was put in place. This has been done using different approaches in many hot spots of the world, there is absolutely no reason to believe it would not be done in Iraq.
He had kept the capacity and expertise necessary to reconstitute his WMD programs.
By capacity you mean exactly what? Since the CIA states categorically that he did not have facilities; that Iraq destroyed his WMD programs and capability, you mean what?
Expertise? Yes, some of his scientists remained in the country.
Possible solutions other than going to war: as part of sanctions and inspections, appeal to UN for assistance in relocating and giving good jobs to them (this is the US approach with ex Soviet era scientists, including funding for just this purpose). Other solution: kill them all.
Probably some would have appreciated leaving. Recently saw an interview with one who did leave. He, BTW, laughed at Bush's assertion in the State of the Union address that Iraq was virtually ready to deploy a nuke. His former job: nuclear weapons research.
And it does not take much sarin to kill a lot of people........
All the more important to keep inspections and verification on-going, forever if need be.
In the post-9/11 world, a US President that asked for such help from the international community would get it. |
