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

To: Mao II who wrote (22822)	3/18/2003 6:35:19 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25898

The credit for 1441 belongs in large measure to Blair, who saw it as a chance to disarm Saddam in a way that strengthened the UN and preserved the Atlantic alliance. And this was done because Bush PUSHED the UN for a final ultimatum for Saddam.. one that had teeth, and severe consequences. But it matters not.. Because France, Russian, and Germany were, and are, ABSOLUTELY OPPOSED to the use of military force to make Saddam comply. I don't care if Gore, or even Clinton were president.. It would not change the scenario.. In fact, NOTHING was going to be sufficient to cause the French and Russians to risk losing their influence (and those lucrative oil contracts) in Iraq.. NOTHING... So France and Russia agreed to 1441 SOLELY to pacify Blair, who was trying to pacify Bush, who was forcing the issue of Saddam's disarmament. So they passed 1441, 15-0, with France and Russia likely telling one anther, "we can control this cowboy".. We can drag this thing on, avoid causing too much trouble with Saddam, and eventually get these sanctions lifted when Bush is defeated by bringing to bear an orchestrated anti-war campaign which he would never think of ignoring.. Then we can get back to business and make some Francs and Rubles on those oil contracts. Well, guess again.. Bush has called their bluff, and demonstrated that the French "emperor" has no clothes.. The only one who has been willing to keep Saddam "in his box" has been the US and UK. The French and Russian haven't been. And if was clear that the French had no real desire to see inspections work when they fought tooth and nail against UNMOVIC and trying to restart the inspection process (when Mr. Clinton was still President).. So now they are left begging for scraps in a post-Saddam Iraq, and trying to cover their @sses in case he really does use those weapons against us.. Weapons France was perfectly willing to let him keep.. Let's just pray that our air forces are able to locate all the possible delivery systems... So Mr. Clinton is taking this opportunity to try and wrangle out some political leverage from this situation.. When it's pretty clear that neither he, or Gore, would have been able to wrangle out a use of force resolution from the UNSC either.. The only difference is that neither Clinton or Gore would have had the spine to "end run" the UN and that guaranteed French veto. Hawk