Iraq actions makes terrorism risks worse ?

[Sandman]

Originally posted by Straybow
Bad idea? There are many people, including me, who believed at the time we should not be sitting on our hands while Saddam played cat and mouse games with inspectors. When Saddam kicked the inspectors out it was tantamount to breaking the peace instrument he signed.

Um, he let the inspectors back in. They found nothing.

[Straybow]

Hold it, Mr. Policeman, let me flush this baggy. Then you can search my apartment.

See? Nothing here.

[Chemical Ollie]

If you flush the baggy, it's gone, and the potential harm is gone. You've now had 3 years to search the apartment. See? Nothing there.

[Straybow]

If you were a dealer, you'd still have all your connections to get and sell more.

The incompleteness of the metaphor is that the "baggy" wasn't necessarily flushed, but perhaps only moved to another site. Maybe even one already searched by Mr. Policeman.

[Chemical Ollie]

The bad metaphor was your choice.

And now that all sites have been searched by "Mr policeman", again and again and again during 3 years, then what?

If there ever was a baggy, where was it flushed? You have a vivid fantasy. Even Bush has admitted the WMD track was a mistake. Why are you still following it?

What if "Mr policeman" is the true criminal?

[chequita guevara]

It also needs to be remembered that Hussein only kicked out the American inspectors, and that was only after he found out were CIA. The other inspectors remained until they were withdrawn by the UN in anticpation of the Dec. '88 bombings.

[Chemical Ollie]

And after the increased pressue in 2002-2003, Blixt et al could move about more or less freely until the week before the invasion. But USA could not tolerate that, and rediculated the inspections, because "they found nothing".

[Barnabas]

Blix deserves an apology

[GePap]

Originally posted by Patroklos


Having spent a month circling the two oil platorms all Iraqi oil goes through at about 2000 odd yards, I will tell you right now Iraqi oil exports are many times the pre-invasion level.

Another interesting fact is Iraq has a larger navy now than it did under Saddam, very professional and motivated. All about chasing down Iranian smugglers.

But remember, no progress, nothing to see here.

http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2006Sep28/0,4670,USIraqReconstruction,00.html

WASHINGTON — Iraq's most important moneymaker _ its oil industry _ lost $16 billion in potential foreign sales over two years to insurgent attacks, criminals and bad equipment, a secret U.S. audit says.

The Baghdad government"must take bold action"to protect its oil and electrical facilities, concludes an unclassified summary of the classified audit on Iraq's energy sector.

"Iraq cannot prosper without uninterrupted export of oil and the reliable delivery of electricity,"Stuart W. Bowen, special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, said in the summary released Thursday.

In another report, Bowen said sewage drips through the ceilings of a newly constructed building at the Baghdad Police College because of poor construction and the use of inferior plumbing materials.

Bowen released both reports as he prepared to testify Thursday before the House Government Reform Committee, which has been looking into waste and fraud in billions of dollars worth of Iraq reconstruction projects.

In addition to the estimated $16 billion loss of potential oil export revenue between January 2004 and March 2006, Bowen said Iraq also is paying billions of dollar to import refined petroleum products it needs.

And

http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story_s.asp?StoryId=1093111549

(MENAFN) Iraqi Oil Minister announced that the Iraq oil exports reached an average 1.619 million barrels per day (bpd) in April, bringing about $3 billion of much needed revenue into the state budget, Reuters reported.

April figure was regarded as the highest export level seen since 2002.

The minister expected crude oil exports from its northern fields to Turkey, which have been halted by sabotage, to resume within weeks.

Iraq intends to increase crude oil exports to two million bpd by the end of this year, the minister added.

Last week, a ministry spokesman said the aim was to raise exports to about 1.8 million bpd in the same period. Typical production in the years before the U.S. invasion of March 2003 was around 2.5 million bpd, with exports of up to 2 million bpd.

Shipping sources had said Iraqi oil exports in April were 1.55 million bpd, 140,000 up from a revised 1.41 million bpd figure for March, due to improved weather.

Could you make it any easier to show you are simple WRONG?

[GePap]

Originally posted by Straybow
If you were a dealer, you'd still have all your connections to get and sell more.

The incompleteness of the metaphor is that the "baggy" wasn't necessarily flushed, but perhaps only moved to another site. Maybe even one already searched by Mr. Policeman.

Wait, so you are one of THOSE that still harboer fantasies that the stuff got moved? Jesus H. Christ, you are resistant to facts, aren;t you?

[Sandman]

Originally posted by Straybow
Hold it, Mr. Policeman, let me flush this baggy. Then you can search my apartment.

See? Nothing here.

Dragging masses of weapons systems across the border to Syria isn't exactly the same as flushing a 'baggy', is it? Still, you have to admire the Iraqis for sportingly hiding those weapons instead of using them.

[Straybow]

Originally posted by Chemical Ollie
The bad metaphor was your choice.

It wasn't a "bad metaphor," but an incomplete match as are all metaphors. They are linguistic expressions, not mathematical models.

But then you aren't a native English speaker. Perhaps your mother tongue doesn't use metaphors and this nuance is lost on you?

And now that all sites have been searched by "Mr policeman", again and again and again during 3 years, then what?

If there ever was a baggy, where was it flushed? You have a vivid fantasy. Even Bush has admitted the WMD track was a mistake. Why are you still following it?

What if "Mr policeman" is the true criminal?

Once the program materials (primarily documents) are removed inspecting the same site "again and again" is a masturbatory waste of time. It only proves that the initial search was compromised and the inspectors (and their cheering section) are desperate to feel better about themselves.

[Straybow]

Originally posted by Sandman
Dragging masses of weapons systems across the border to Syria isn't exactly the same as flushing a 'baggy', is it? Still, you have to admire the Iraqis for sportingly hiding those weapons instead of using them.

WMD programs, not systems. It is primarily a matter of knowledge. The point is all such material was to have been destroyed under supervision. It was not.

Some may have been taken across the border. Some may have been hidden and now lost. Some may have been destroyed, just so weak-minded people would conclude that it was all a "set-up."

Tell Saddam, "You're welcome."

[GePap]

Of course, of course, cause three years of intensive investigations have obviously not been thorough enough, now that the US has full control of the country. But its nice to see you have kept the faith even when the WH has already fully admitted there were no active WMD's in Iraq.

I also bet you still know that we never landed on the moon!

[Straybow]

W only admitted that we now know they weren't building WMDs at the time. That isn't the same as possessing material that was to have been destroyed under supervision. Nor is it the same as Saddam pursuing WMDs, which he clearly was.