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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Steve Dietrich who wrote (480072)	5/12/2009 2:21:10 PM
From: one_less	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1573941

Underlying all the other issues was the decision to continue sanctions or not to continue sanctions, and there were many other issues and threats besides WMDs which I agree were not an immediate threat by themselves. The decision was being made by time as the effectiveness of the sanctions was deteriorating so that in time they would be abandoned as useless anyway. Albright declared that the death of 500,000 innocent children resulting from the sanctions was worth it. I always felt that if the target was the regime of Saddam, which it was, then this policy was flawed. Targeting the innocents in this way to get at your enemy, although more sophisticated, is no less insidious than sending terrorists out to bomb innocents.

To: Steve Dietrich who wrote (480072)	5/12/2009 2:47:59 PM
From: i-node	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1573941

By forcing the inspectors back into Iraq, we were dealing with the serious threat of Iraq. The invasion was unnecessary and unwise. While I agree that some on the far left thought it was unnecessary and unwise, most of both houses of Congress obviously didn't feel that way and most of the American people didn't feel that way. As to how you feel now, that is totally immaterial. Most of the "unaccounted" for agents have a shelf life that would have rendered them useless as WMD. Mustard gas can be stockpiled for decades. In addtion to 230 tons of missing mustard gas, there are some 550 artillery shells filled with mustard gas that Saddam claimed were "Misplaced". While Sarin generally has a short shelf life, much of Iraq's stockpile was in binary form which does not have this problem. The evidence is that Saddam had completed development of a binary VX with a very long shelf life. These details are largely immaterial, of course, since whatever action Saddam took to destroy such weapons was a temporary measure that could be rekindled on demand. The fact is that Saddam had shown no hesitation to use these weapons and removing him was simply carrying out the stated policy of the United States that Clinton had so long ignored.