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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ilaine who wrote (18965)	2/16/2002 10:52:20 AM
From: JohnM	Respond to of 281500

I agree with you, John, but I think that Nadine is right, too, that it looks as if we are going to do it, based on nothing more than what we have now, which I think is wrong. Not only wrong, but stupid - I think I know what your political sensibilities are. We've all been fairly open with one another on this thread. I liked, for instance, LindyBill's comment, that none of us think we have a pipeline to God, though some of us think we can always get the last word in (g). I had some second thoughts about my string of posts to Nadine last night. One of them was the scenario in which there is nothing better for a President's popularity ratings than a war. And the Bush folk are basking in that right now. I think that could tempt them, well I need a word stronger than "tempt," to do something like an invasion in close proximity to an election. It certainly would not be the first time such has been tried. John

To: Ilaine who wrote (18965)	2/16/2002 10:28:33 PM
From: KLP	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

CB..Re Iraq...an interesting book and program last night...speaks directly to the Iraq problem..last night on Fox, Khidhir Hamzar, Saddam’s former bombmaker ...was on the program....missed most of the program, but what I did hear, made me think I will get this book...As probably anyone who even has an opinion about the US and Iraq, and "terrorists".... (I did read several reviews...this is only one....) Khidhir Hamzar studied at MIT.....there are 39 sample pages on the amazon.com site...Perhaps Tom Daschle, the NYT, Al Gore, and many other folks ought to read this before shooting off their mouths.... Perhaps, just perhaps, there is more here than we want to believe. It would be nice to be comfortable, and in pre Sept 11th la-la land....but in our lifetime (hopefully a long one) that probably won't be possible again. More on his book Saddam's Bombmaker: The Terrifying Inside Story of the Iraqi Nuclear and Biological Weapons Agenda And the "axis of evil" •Khidhir Hamzar, Saddam’s former bombmaker foxnews.com ****************** From the Amazon web site on this book: amazon.com Saddam's Bombmaker: The Terrifying Inside Story of the Iraqi Nuclear and Biological Weapons Agenda by Khidr Abd Al-Abbas Hamzah, Jeff Stein (Collaborator), Khidhir Hamza Editorial Reviews This book has 39 sample pages. Back cover (view larger image) Actual Dimensions: 1.12 x 9.54 x 6.47 See all 39 sample pages Amazon.com "I am lucky to be alive," writes Khidhir Hamza on the opening page of this memoir, which reads like a thriller. Hamza describes how he helped Saddam Hussein design a nuclear bomb over the course of 22 years.** He has an amazing story to relate, and with the help of collaborator Jeff Stein, he tells it remarkably well. It begins with his cloak-and-dagger escape from Baghdad in 1994, then goes back in time to describe the education he received earlier in the United States. Hamza returned to his native Iraq, and Saddam seduced him into accepting the comfortable life of an atomic scientist trying to build a bomb for a megalomaniac. Hamza presents a terrifying, almost psychotic portrait of Hussein himself: the dictator--a man with "yellow, lifeless eyes"--has a paranoid fear of germs and a taste for Johnnie Walker Blue Label. He's prone to drunken rages and relies on sedatives to keep control of himself: "His personality grew more erratic with the ups and downs of the drugs, the liquor, and the pressures of command." Hamza recounts a story told by one of Saddam's doctors, in which the strongman was found "stomping about his palace bedroom in a blood-splotched shirt" near the body of a woman whose throat was slit. Hamza was eventually kept under house arrest, and even threatened with torture. His escape was an astonishing feat, and the message he brought to the West is vital: "I have no doubt that Iraq is pursuing the nuclear option." The Gulf War slowed development, but failed to shut it down. The coalition that knocked Saddam out of Kuwait has fallen apart, and United Nations inspectors no longer try to keep him in check. Hamza urges policymakers to confront Saddam, and suggests that the CIA redouble its efforts to help topnotch scientists flee from their virtual captivity. If rogue nations experience a brain drain, he says, their capacity to produce weapons of mass destruction will suffer. Saddam's Bombmaker is hard to put down and essential reading for anybody interested in national security. --John J. Miller New York Times Book Review "gripping and unsettling...a rare account of privilege ...with big houses, expensive cars, glittering restaurants..." (Note: there are several reviews of this book on the web site....)