Wow.. I'd say IBTL but then again, that's a wasted post.
I've been saying that all along... but then again, I'm not a Bushie. Premonitions, suppositions and dreams of WMDs are no longer a valid excuse to invade a country. You now have to actually want oil or liberation of an oppressed people. If you'd like a country that fits that bill you're going to have to go to Nigeria.
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9/11/01 notwithstanding, do you honestly believe that there would have been support of anykind for Regime Change?
If you can say yes, then you need to check your brain at the door.
There are at least 15 other countries that needed (and STILL NEED) help more than Iraq did. What's so wrong with them? (no oil, no outstanding grudge match.. etc ad nauseum.)
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...and despite all of this...where's UBL?
Goodbye Callisto & Skaši, Hello Ishara:
2022 Kia Stinger GT2 AWD
The only thing every single person from every single walk of life on earth can truly say
they have in common is that their country is run by a bunch of fargin iceholes.
UBL, B.I.G., and 2pac is chillin' in Bora Bora.
Don't believe the hype
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We went in based on what AQ wanted after 9/11 and who had it, according to the intelligence we had at the time.
Time for the CIA to get back into the spy business. It really lapsed during the 1990's.
GAM, which countries are a potential threat to the United States that need to be taken out?
Well, Off the top of my head:
Bora Bora (I believe part of netherlands, but might be wrong
)
Any brown-people nation...
(Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, UAE, Syria, Libya, Iran... catching my drift?)
Toeing the USA line (at least by token) is the imperative I guess.
The CIA is in the spying business... They're just using less human assets, that decline started in the 70's.
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True, there were no WMD's found in Iraq. However the supplies, equipment needed, and intent were there. We have already found a Russian MiG buried in the desert, and trust me I was there, the deserts of Iraq are huge. Who's to say there aren't more things out there we missed. Not to mention all the trucks that were seen crossing the border into Syria right before the ground war started that we now can't seem to find. Saddam has used chemical weapons in the past on his own people, I am sure he would have to problem dropping a few on us if he had the opportunity.
As far as the decline of the CIA since the 1970's goes, they screwed themselves by all the work they did against college students. EO 12333 was a necessary step taken at the time to control what was happening. Thankfully the PATRIOT ACT has removed some of those restraints placed on the intelligence community and allow us to do what was needed long before 9/11. Remember, the hijackers were trained at US institutions. Flags were raised months before the attacks occured on that day, but there was nothing that could be done because they were considered US Persons. The american public wants to blame the whole thing on faults in the intel community, and yes I agree there are many. But at the same time, the american public wants all the protection they can get but are unwilling to compromise to get there. If you have nothing to hide and want the protection that can be provided, I see no problem with the PATRIOT ACT.
As far as other countries that raise a greater concern than, Iraq, I agree with you 100%. But now we are stuck in a war that is greater than what was first expected. The american public was behind this 100% at the beginning and now it would be catastrophic for the Allied forces to back out of Iraq. We need to stay there and finish what we started. And let's not just limit these countries to the ones in the Middle East. There are radical groups all over the world that are anti-western as well. Don't forget, we're not at war with a country, we are at war with groups of people who believe that western civilization is a demon.
Bottom line is simple, politics and politicians will always be hated by someone, it's a nasty game. There will never be someone or something that has a 100% approval rating. All I can say is welcome to the world that has been in the making for a long time coming. All the stuff that is happening today has ties to events that happend decades ago, unfortunately we are now living in the results of those days.
One last thing about the PA and retaining of collected evidence. The PA has not allowed LEA's to just walk around and do whatever they want. There are still a set of requirements that must be met before such activities can take place. All the PA did was replace a set of rules that are greatly outdated for this day and age. I think that the entire system needs to be re-vamped to meet the threats the are posed in the world today.
Michael: No doubt Patriot Act does help a lot of older laws, but the point of it was to augment those laws in order to further investigation of domesticly involved terrorists... not further basic criminal investigations. As well, it was on a time-limited scale to begin with, so, maybe you oughtta lean on your local reps to to get the underlying laws re-vamped pronto.
The thing about WMD's in Iraq: You can't just pack up a nuclear accerator, and the fissable materials in a few dozen trucks and cart them on their merry way. it just doesn't work that way. Also, IIRC, the contents of the trucks was oil and gas that was being smuggled out for profits... I may be wrong, but they most certainly didn't contain Bio/Chem Agents... you don't just run those around in a tanker truck (Unless you really don't value your life)
Also, there are a LOT of things buried in the sand, MiG's, mobile Missile erectors and trucks... tanks... Not everything in the sand is easily dug up or made serviceable. Besides, Iraq was provided for in UN resolutions to maintain a defensive force which included Bio/Chem weapons, as Iran still had a long-standing grievance (or grudge more likely) and would use any weakness as call to invasion. ISG found all declared bio/chem agents and disposed of all of them as I remember.
I've said before and will continue to say that it was all too convienient to invade Iraq. If the cause of hunting down rogue WMD capable states, North Korea has loomed large for the last 15 years... not to mention Pakistan and India... North Korea has actually sold nuclear materials (capable of creating weapons-grade isotopes) to both states, as well as Iran. Iran's been under a totalitarian Muslim regime for about 30 years.... You get my point, but I'm really frustrated with this... The justification behind the war in Iraq was flimsy on its face.
And you're right, I don't think Iraq will be under its own power (at least defensively) for a very, very long time.
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