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

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (153312)	12/4/2004 10:48:04 AM
From: Michael Watkins	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

Yes, that dog doesn't hunt. The CIA report concludes with out a doubt that the nuclear programs were shut down. And your so-called proof of a hunting dog, this book (by the way, why would a book author sensationalize its topic? That's how you sell books. Marketing 101) also agrees with the two main points which have been argued over and over but apparently unobserved by the sanctimonious: The subsequent arrival of the inspectors meant that Saddam, despite elaborate deceptions and dummyings (very well-described by Obeidi) was never able to get back up to speed again. His regime also began to suffer from interclan warfare with the defection of the Kamel brothers to Jordan and the further exposure of the Baathist arms racket. And the point I have made repeatedly: Had it not been for 9/11, it is sobering to reflect, there would have been senior members of even this administration arguing that sanctions on Iraq should be eased. My point stated before and now: that given 9/11, President Bush had all the leverage he needed to turn the UN into an effective institution and/or at the very least insist on improved containment measures against countries like Iraq and complete transparency of the oil for food program. In summary, a quote from Obeidi which simply confirms the obvious -- that knowledge is dangerous. (By the way, invading the country of Iraq did nothing to eliminate that knowledge. There are Iraqi nuclear scientists living in Iraq and outside of Iraq. There are non-Iraqi nuclear scientists living all over the world. Knowledge is not something which can be hemmed in, kept in a bottle. Invading Iraq has simply sent a big signal to all such weapons program planners: hurry up.) ---------- Nathan Gardels: Rolf Ekeus, the former chief U.N. arms inspector, said all along, as you did in your book, that the nuclear weapons program was "ancient history" by the time of the U.S. invasion and that the U.N. inspectors had dismantled Saddam's WMD arsenal by the mid-1990s. While there were no "stockpiles," Ekeus said, the "software" remained ? the knowledge of the scientists and their infrastructure that could be used to restart WMD programs. That was the same conclusion of last week's final report by the CIA Iraq Survey Group. Does this accord with your inside knowledge? Mahdi Obeidi: My book is a factual account. It presents findings from what I know from my own experience. I don't take any sides. But, yes, this accords with the views I present in the book