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

To: Sam who wrote (116149)	10/3/2003 5:19:53 PM
From: Neocon	Respond to of 281500

According to Time, and other news sources, the infrastructure degradation was much worse than anyone thought. Sorry, I trust Time over your acquaintance. We could not afford a big guessing game with the Iraqi regime, and they were acting like they had something to hide. Containment would not have retained its viability if Iraqi agents or their proxies had unleashed chemical or biological weapons against our troops or sailors. And we cannot be sure that Iraq would have been punished, if it could preserve deniability. Just as happened when the barracks was bombed in Beirut, a substantial loss of life in that context would likely have called for a pullout in the region. Poof, there goes containment. Get rid of containment (which does not require huge stockpiles or fancy delivery systems), and the Saddam regime would have a free hand going full bore back into WMD production, assuming they had curtailed it somewhat. We could not afford that, given his ambition to dominate the Middle East and lead the Arab world into ascendancy over the West. Even if it were a pipe dream, he could cause a lot of havoc trying.......

To: Sam who wrote (116149)	10/4/2003 12:46:28 AM
From: Nadine Carroll	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

And the infrastructure business is wildly exaggerated, according to someone I know who was there both before and after the war. The power and water were both adequate in most parts of the country, especially the cities of course Such evidence is not adequate, esp. if your friend stayed mainly in the cities. Engineers can jury-rig, patch, cannibalize and generally rob Peter to pay Paul to keep things running for a long time without adequate funds or maintenance, especially if their boss can threaten them with execution if things stop working.