Before anyone forgets, WMD's revisited...

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by rev
Blix, and other inspectors, have been saying for quite some time that it's possible that Iraq destroyed any WMD they had after the first Gulf War, or in 1998. This is just the NYT covering a story that has already been covered.

What's different now, though, is that the "inspections" are now complete -- it just took an invasion and the conquering force to do it, because we were impatient with Blix's inspections (which, if you'll recall, had already shown that the "evidence" possessed by the U.S. was "junk").

.

But they didnt point out an alternate explanation for Iraq not documenting their destruction. And Blix didnt put forward his "beware of dog" theory then. Perhaps because everyone knew that it was NOT the US or UN responsibility to prove that Iraq had them, but Iraqs to prove they didnt have them, and that the "beware of dog" theory would have justified US invasion?

[Hueij]

OTOH, it is widely beleived that the admin had iraqi comm intercepts (besides the ones Powell played at the UN) that showed they had them. So another theory goes that even Saddam thought he had them, and so communicated, but that his underlings were lying to him.

If so, then why wasn't this intel given to Blix at the time?

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Sandman


They did try to document the destruction, but were not taken seriously.

then why is blixie even proposing the "beware of dog theory"?

[Japher]

Nothing, but a run around, was "given" to Blix and that was part of the problem. While France and Germany didn't mind bending over and taking it from Iraq the US wouldn't stand for it...

[Hueij]

Thanks for more rhetoric and whining.

Anything for you Sloww

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Hueij

OTOH, it is widely beleived that the admin had iraqi comm intercepts (besides the ones Powell played at the UN) that showed they had them. So another theory goes that even Saddam thought he had them, and so communicated, but that his underlings were lying to him.

If so, then why wasn't this intel given to Blix at the time?

Possibilities
1. they did, but this didnt help Blixie find anything, cause it wasnt geographically specific enough.
2. They didnt, cause it involved sensitive sources and methods, and they didnt trust that it wouldnt leak out of blixies org.
3. they did give it to him, and he didnt find anything, cause i was based on lies Saddams underlings told Saddam

[rev]

Perhaps because everyone knew that it was NOT the US or UN responsibility to prove that Iraq had them, but Iraqs to prove they didnt have them, and that the "beware of dog" theory would have justified US invasion?

Would you send a SWAT team into a mansion to see if it had a dozen flesh-eating rottweilers in the basement, or would you send in the guy from the dog pound to check it out?

You're correct in that it was up to the Iraqis to prove that they didn't have any banned weapons, but I think one way they can do that is by complying with the inspections (which they were more or less doing).

[Sava]

I think it's tearing you hawks apart that Blix is probably right.

[Hueij]

Originally posted by Japher
Nothing, but a run around, was "given" to Blix and that was part of the problem. While France and Germany didn't mind bending over and taking it from Iraq the US wouldn't stand for it...

Great. Why didn't the US just say that they wanted to *****slap Saddam but instead tried to shove all that BS up the UN's ass?

Bottom line is that the US and the UK lied to the whole world...

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by rev


Would you send a SWAT team into a mansion to see if it had a dozen flesh-eating rottweilers in the basement, or would you send in the guy from the dog pound to check it out?

You're correct in that it was up to the Iraqis to prove that they didn't have any banned weapons, but I think one way they can do that is by complying with the inspections (which they were more or less doing).

would i send in a swat team - well if i knew the guy had been abusing his kids, but that i couldnt do anything about it cause the law didnt allow me to interfere with his parenting, but it did allow me to after dangerous animals, and if i also knew that abused kids had a tendency to misbehave, and such kids had recently firebombed my house, why yes, id send in a swat team.


As for complying, expect some revelations in the next few weeks about that "compliance"

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Sava
I think it's tearing you hawks apart that Blix is probably right.

thats ok, it will tear y'all apart when Iraq transforms the region.

[Japher]

Bottom line is that the US and the UK lied to the whole world...

read this again, very closely:

'Blix, who spent three years searching for Iraqi chemical, biological and ballistic missiles as head of the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, said Iraq might have tried to fool the United States into believing it had weapons of mass destruction over the years in order to deter attack.

If your are going to believe everything Blix says then at least believe everything he says...

[rev]

and such kids had recently firebombed my house

Are you referring to 9/11?

As for complying, expect some revelations in the next few weeks about that "compliance"

If you're referring to the Kay report, it's already been turned over to Tenet, who's now deciding whether or not it should be classified and never released to the public.

Let's face it -- if Kay had found anything, we'd have heard about it by now. They stopped actively searching suspected weapons sites quite some time ago and now Kay has been reduced to piecing together Iraqi documents to suggest that they had *plans* for building WMDs. That's a far cry from Iraq being an "imminent" threat that couldn't be reduced by continued inspections.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Sava
I think it's tearing you hawks apart that Blix is probably right.

Nope.

'Today it is perplexing and rather painful indeed for the people of Halabja to hear voices in the international community that continue to insist on proof for Saddam's weapons of mass destruction," said Barham Salih, the prime minister for the western part of Iraq's Kurdish region. "Here is the proof. Halabja is the proof. . . . This mass grave in Halabja and the other 170 so far discovered mass graves in Iraq should dispel any doubts about the legitimacy of the American and British liberation of Iraq. These mass graves vindicate the moral imperative of your intervention to protect the people of Iraq."

Powell was joined by Iraq's top Kurdish leaders, Massoud Barzani of the Kurdistan Democratic Party and Jalal Talabani of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, who preside over a swath of northern Iraq that had been autonomous since it split from Iraq after the 1991 Persian Gulf War. The two leaders, who sit on the country's interim Governing Council, expressed opinions similar to those of Salih. "The tragedy of Halabja gives them the legitimacy for going to war," Barzani said. '

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by rev



If you're referring to the Kay report, it's already been turned over to Tenet, who's now deciding whether or not it should be classified and never released to the public.

Let's face it -- if Kay had found anything, we'd have heard about it by now. They stopped actively searching suspected weapons sites quite some time ago and now Kay has been reduced to piecing together Iraqi documents to suggest that they had *plans* for building WMDs. .

and evidence that Iraq was misleading the inspectors, from what i have heard.