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Politics : Foreign Policy Discussion Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: mistermj who wrote (503)	12/12/2002 7:28:16 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Respond to of 15987

Gotta hand it to those Spanish commandoes... Nice operation!! Btw, the Washington Post mentioned today that the Spanish Government was likely pretty miffed that news of the seizure broke from the White House and not their own government... Makes them look like "pawns" of the US... We should have given them their "day in the sun" but maybe we weren't getting the right political signals as to how they were going to handle it and decided to do a political "end run" and force the disclosure. Yemen was also reported as being extremely embarrassed about having their hands "caught in the cookie jar" after promising in recent months not to complete their purchase of SCUDs (why do they need them?)... Having missiles shipped to them, smuggled under cement, makes it look like they were trying to get one over on us... This should provide some nice leverage in gaining additional cooperation against Al-Qaida entities hiding in Yemen. And finally, it would appear that Saddam Hussein has invited some opposition leaders back into Iraq to create the appearance of contested elections (despite the overwhelming "support" he received in the recent election.. :0) This could prove a stumbling point for Bush's strategy.. The more Saddam attempts to create the impression of political liberalization, the more difficult it will be for Bush to carry through on a regime change. But since we all know the Hussein family "clan" really run Iraq, it will be interesting to see if the opposition lines up support from one of the other major clans. That will be the final proof of a "viable opposition" developing. But overall, it could, as a best case scenario, indicate that Saddam's family is pressuring him to not leave them in a position of losing everything they have gained economically and politically over the past 25 years. After all, Saddam will be dead within 10 years (or on life support) and the clan will still be around. He has to think about the legacy he'll be leaving for his heirs. Hawk