The Pentagon wants "long term access" to base in Iraq

[Chris 62]

Probaly the same thing that happened when Saddam didn't comply with the deadline.

[Lancer]

Stop that Chris...

[DinoDoc]

We've already invaded them, Chris. Not much else we can do to them.

[Nubclear]

Originally posted by Lancer
I'm not ready to get all bunched up about this yet Tass. Are we occupying Kuwait? Turkey? SK?

Lets see how it works.

A liberator comes in, liberates, helps bring the people off their feet, and leaves.

They dont stay with soldiers and guns "just in case"

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by Tassadar5000
They dont stay with soldiers and guns "just in case"

I had no idea we were occupying Germany. Someone really needs to get on the ball in dealing with Schroeder!

[Chris 62]

Russians giving advice about "liberating!"

They stood 50 years in Europe!

[Lord Merciless]

(With heavy Russian accent) "You have been liberated by the Soviet Army!"

[Andrew1999]

Kuwait is definitely occupied by the US. Half of the country is a closed military zone--the US can go there, but Kuwaitis can't.

[Drake Tungsten]

The New York Times has a good story on this issue.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/20/international/worldspecial/20BASE.html

[David Floyd]

Hey Chris, as to that quotation of mine you have in your sig, well, it looks as if I was right. As I recall, I basically said I believed Saddam when he said he had no WMD. Looks like even Rummy is saying we're not gonna find any, despite the "perfect" intel they had prior to the war in order to justify it.

Looks like I was right and you were wrong, smartass

[Chris 62]

Floyd, the next time your right will be the first time!

Report: Iraq Junked WMD Just Before War

Monday, April 21, 2003

NEW YORK — An Iraqi scientist who claims to have worked in Saddam Hussein's chemical weapons program told a U.S. military team that Iraq destroyed and buried chemical weapons and biological warfare equipment only days before the war began March 20, a newspaper reported Monday.

Members of MET Alpha -- the Mobile Exploitation Team set up to hunt for illegal weapons of mass destruction -- said the scientist led Americans to material that proved to be the building blocks of illegal weapons, according to The New York Times.

The Iraqi scientist, who was not named for fear he might be harmed, also said Iraq has secretly sent stockpiles of deadly agents and weapons technology to Syria in the mid-1990s, and more recently was cooperating with Usama bin Laden's Al Qaeda terror network.

The U.S. Central Command could not confirm the report, and the White House had no immediate comment on it.

The report was withheld by military censors for three days, and some details about the chemicals were not allowed to be published. The reporter was not allowed to interview the Iraqi scientist.

The Bush administration says that U.S. forces went into Iraq and toppled Saddam's regime to rid the world of the threat of weapons of mass destruction.

Military officials said the scientist told them that several months before the war, he watched as Iraqi officials buried chemical precursors for weapons and other sensitive material to conceal and protect them for future use. Four days before President Bush gave Saddam an ultimatum in March, the scientist said Iraqi officials set fire to a warehouse where biological weapons research was conducted.

The scientist reportedly gave a note to the Army's 101st Airborne Division. That was passed on to the MET Alpha team, which tracked the scientist down at his home.

"What they have discovered could prove to be of incalculable value," the paper quoted Maj. Gen. David Petraeus, commander of the Army's 101st Airborne Division, as saying.

"Though much work must still be done to validate the information MET Alpha has uncovered, if it proves out it will clearly be one of the major discoveries of this operation, and it may be the major discovery," he added.

[Sava]

I just wanted to point out that one of the things that pissed Osama BL off was the sustained presence of US troops in his "holy land".

[Sava]

"Saddam destroyed WMD's before invasion"
a funny little cop-out excuse... hopefully intelligent Americans won't step in the Bull sh1t.