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Politics : DON'T START THE WAR -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: PartyTime who wrote (9078)	2/16/2003 10:21:22 PM
From: Lazarus_Long	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25898

At the lower limit, your proposition does not work. Microscopic progress is sufficient to satisfy it. One minor discovery every 3 or 4 months would meet that criterion. But there is another matter involved: The inspectors are not required to be supersleuths. Saddam was supposed to quickly produce everything he has. That requirement has already come and gone and was not not met. Remember, the force in Iraq now is about 1/20th the seize of the one sent in earlier after the Gulf War. If they have to dig out everything on their own, it will take forever. Which appears to be precisely Saddam's intent. Let me ask you a question: Let me make the supposition that Saddam does in fact have chemical and biological agents. If, a few years from now, these are unleashed in DC or NYC or SF or London, how are you going to feel about your stance now? And it is unlikely they will be set off by Iraqis; Saddam is not that dumb. He will probably give to Hezbollah or Hamas or al Qaeda and let them do the dirty work and take the blame.

To: PartyTime who wrote (9078)	2/16/2003 11:19:55 PM
From: Lazarus_Long	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25898

Remember this? Last year, 12 long years after the UN first gave him 15 days to produce a full audit of his chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programmes and he denied he had any, we passed UN Resolution 1441. It gave him a "final opportunity" to disarm. It instructed him to co-operate fully with the UN inspectors. .......................................................... The time needed is not the time it takes the inspectors to discover the weapons. They are not a detective agency. We played that game for years in the 1990s. The time is the time necessary to make a judgment: is Saddam prepared to co-operate fully or not. If he is, the inspectors can take as much time as they want. If he is not, if this is a repeat of the 1990s - and I believe it is - then let us be under no doubt what is at stake. Message 18589838 There are lots of interesting and relevant facts in that speech by Mr. Blair. I suggest you read it in its entirety. It might re-acquaint you with some matters you seem to want to ignore.