Iraqs Weapons Of Mass Destruction

[Ned]

Che, I assume from your posts that you are in favor of a strong UN resolution that tells Saddam: any time, any place with no advanced warning - or else.

[DinoDoc]

Ned: Che takes the most recent view of Scott Ritter that Iraq doesn't have any NBC weapons.

[boann]

let me pick out a few things i found interesting.



3.Saddam uses patronage and violence to motivate his supporters and to control or
eliminate opposition.Potential rewards include social status,money and better
access to goods.Saddam fs extensive security apparatus and Ba fath Party
network provides oversight of Iraqi society,with informants in social,
government and military organisations.Saddam practises torture,execution andother forms of coercion against his enemies,real or suspected.His targets are
not only those who have offended him,but also their families,friends or colleagues.

Saddam acts to ensure that there are no other centres of power in Iraq.He has
crushed parties and ethnic groups,such as the communists and the Kurds,which
might try to assert themselves.Members of the opposition abroad have been the
targets of assassination attempts conducted by Iraqi security services.

Saddam has pursued a long-term programme of persecution of the Iraqi Kurds,
including through the use of chemical weapons.
1987-88,al-Majid led the gAnfal h campaign of attacks on Kurdish villages..
Amnesty International estimates that more than 100,000 Kurds were killed or
disappeared during this period.
Repression and control:some examples
œA campaign of mass arrests and killing of Shia activists led to the
execution of the Ayatollah Baqir al-Sadr and his sister in April 1980.
œIn 1983 80 members of another leading Shia family were arrested.Six of
them,all religious leaders,were executed.
œA massive chemical weapons attack on Kurds in Halabja town in March
1988 killing 5000 and injuring 10,000 more.
œA large number of officers from the Jabbur tribe were executed in the
early 1990s for the alleged disloyalty of a few of them.
After the Gulf War in 1991 Kurds in the north of Iraq rose up against Baghdad fs
rule.In response the Iraqi regime killed or imprisoned thousands,prompting a
humanitarian crisis.Over a million Kurds fled into the mountains and tried to
escape Iraq.
8.Persecution of Iraq fs Kurds continues,although the protection provided by the
northern No-Fly Zone has helped to curb the worst excesses.But outside this
zone the Baghdad regime has continued a policy of persecution and
intimidation.
9.The regime has used chemical weapons against the Kurds,most notably in an
attack on the town of Halabja in 1988 (see Part 1 Chapter 2 paragraph 9).The
implicit threat of the use of chemical weapons against the Kurds and others is an
important part of Saddam fs attempt to keep the civilian population under control.


Some 40 of Saddam fs relatives,including women and children,have been killed.
His sons-in-law Hussein and Saddam Kamil had defected in 1995 and returned
to Iraq from Jordan after the Iraqi government had announced amnesties for
them.They were executed in February 1996.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by DinoDoc
Ned: Che takes the most recent view of Scott Ritter that Iraq doesn't have any NBC weapons.

Until proven otherwise, yes. I am strongly in favor of the return of inspectors, because I do not doubt that Hussein has been trying to rebuild his WoMD. But trying and succeeding are two different things.

Frankly, however, all the rhetoric that has been used against Hussein could be equally applied to both Israel and Pakistan. Both countries have WoMD. Both countries are agressive and have attacked their neighbors. Both countries sponsor terrorism.

The so-called policy of Bush's isn't a policy, it's simply a set of excuses to attack Iraq that will not be applied to other, more dangerous, countries.

Remember, the editor-in-chief of Janes said there's nothing in Blair's dossier that says that Iraq is an immediate threat.

[Capt Dizle]

So the Jane's editor has more credibility to you than Blair?

[chequita guevara]

If Iraq is hobbled, who will counter Iran?

[DinoDoc]

I'm always suprised to see a commie use realism.

[Capt Dizle]

Che, you raise a very good point. Iran is a concern for me too.

I have been thinking and I was wondering what in the world would happen if Iran invaded Iraq now. How does their military stack up with Iraq. Since you think so highly of Jane's military intelligence services you probably know more about that than Tony Blair.

[Ned]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara


Until proven otherwise, yes. I am strongly in favor of the return of inspectors, because I do not doubt that Hussein has been trying to rebuild his WoMD. But trying and succeeding are two different things.

Do you favor inspections that will work?

[walruskkkch]

ANd what would be their reason for invading Iraq? They've been rather vocal in opposing our going in, how would they justify theirs?

[Capt Dizle]

Iran could simply say they are invading Iraq to remove the agressor Saddam and forestall an American invasion.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by jimmytrick
So the Jane's editor has more credibility to you than Blair?

Yes. Blair is a political animal. He is trying to spin. Jane's has a reputation for being rather devoted to accuracy. If the Jane's editor said otherwise, I'd have to seriously reconsider my stance on Iraq. Remember, the editor said this today in repsonse to Blair's dossier. So if Blair can't convince the people who are among the best military analysts in the world, I think that there's more smoke than fire.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by jimmytrick
Che, you raise a very good point. Iran is a concern for me too.

I have been thinking and I was wondering what in the world would happen if Iran invaded Iraq now. How does their military stack up with Iraq.

Iraq's military is reputed to be 1/4 the size it was during the first Bush-Hussein War. Iran could probably take them out with a good push.

That would be brilliant. How could Bush oppose it politically, since he himself is trying to do the very same thing?

[DinoDoc]

I don't think that anyone has said that Iraq is an immdeiate threat. Hence the emphasis on pre-emption.

PS What is Jane's relationship to the flight sims that bear thier name? Is it merely lending thier name or do they have actual input in thier development?

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Ned
Do you favor inspections that will work?

Yes. The sooner their job is done the sooner that blockade of Iraq can end. People forget, my side isn't with Huseein or against American necessarily. My side is with the innocent people of Iraq who are pawns of an evil dicator and a callous superpower.