OKay:
First, Jack, RaiLS, Mustard Gas was in the disclosed biochem articles that Iraq had delivered to the UN weapons inspectors in Feb 2003. If anyone had bothered to read the executive summary, it was there, and was listed as being in the country pre-1991 invasion. If it was known about, declared and found, why is it that 3 years after the invasion it's only JUST been found. The agents that were cited to the UN by both Bush and Powell were other newer nerve and blistering agents... The more important fact that you're missing is that the Iraqi Survey Group (ISG) not only confirmed the amounts of all agents but their locations as well, and none of the newer generation chem weapons were in any kind of quantity for war-making (most not even in quanitity enough for research, which Iraq was doing legitimately because Iran posessed the same bio/chem weapons).
Second: RaiLS, I do not generally refer to Fox for news because their journalism standards are "relaxed." Basically, there is personal editorial (otherwise known as opinion) interjected, and objectivity is left on the way side.
Bits like:
Quote:
But they do show that Saddam Hussein was lying when he said all weapons had been destroyed, and it shows that years of on-again, off-again weapons inspections did not uncover these munitions.
basically draw a conclusion for you, and really do not include facts that don't support the argument. Again, this isn't strictly news (neither is it fair or balanced, which brings up a swath of hard new questions like fair to whom? and how tilted is the "balance?"), so I usually pass on it. Lines like I quoted disregard the fact that there was full disclosure, in order to give you an "
A HAH!" moment.
If they didn't resort to this kind of sludge journalism, I could at least give them some credit, but I don't frankly see that happening any time soon. Circus tricks like having Geraldo Rivera announce that he's packing a gun in Afghanistan and endangering the lives of other real journalists (basically handing the excuse to the Taliban and al-Queda that they are justified in gunning down reporters) don't impress me in the least.
Finally: I still think that the war was completely unjustified, and really has only made matters worse in the area because now, instead of a single secular regime that the populace could have risen up against and overthrown, there's now 5-6 major powers, and the largest of them is Shi'ite muslims who already have an axe to grind with the US (for Iran, and for the 1992 uprising that was supposed to topple Saddam which the US encouraged, but never put weight behind). Things are NOT better in Iraq.
Saying that only now after 3 years (which brings up a bad joke about not being able to find it with both hands), are you coming up with degraded supplies that were already declared, this is hardly conclusive, and worse, its going to be percieved as clutching at straws. It's as tenuous as saying there is well-known terror links between the Hussein regime and Terrorist organisations when there was like, 1 or 2 old-dogs in the country... None responsible for anything in the last 20 years. I just find it more than a bit insulting to think that a news organisation that furvently toes the current political line is holding up a tempest in a teapot as justification for the de-stabilisation of an area of the world, at a cost of about 10% of your GDP. The war made your lives harder too.
Jack, ToBoGaN: The Yellow Cake fantasy is crap. It was brought up by Akhmed Chalahbi who was trying to goad the UK and US into invading Iraq and deposing Hussein's regime so he and the rest of the Iraqi National Congress could assume control. The UK's MI:5 (Her Majesty's Intelligence Service) found out who he was only after a report had been issued and sent a retraction (which was shared with the US and all NATO allied Intel Services). Problem being: Bush decided to ignore the retraction. The Yellow Cake (ie, North Korean bomb-grade Enriched Uranium) fantasy was shot down 16 ways from sunday when it was originally proposed, but that didn't stop the Bush cabinet from proffering it every time they needed justification for troop build up in Europe and Saudi Arabia.
Iraq DID have several hundred thousand tones of U235 for their civil power reactors, but they didn't have the capacity to create U285 which is more disposed to being bomb material.
As an aside ToBoGaN, If someone cut their hand in an area that was supposed to have had any nuclear fissable material in appreciable amount, I dare say, you were in an area that didn't house the materials, but one that was exceptionally poorly cleaned. U235 isn't safe to be exposed to when shielded for more than 1-2 hours. U285 is fatal after 15 minutes of exposure.
ps
Jack, while the Mustard Gas and Sarin stockpiles are being destroyed, VX and other more efficient nerve/blister agents that the US stores in quantity at PUCD in Colorado and other sites are NOT getting destroyed... The Gov't actually increasing stocks of those agents. If you also look at
thisarticle, the Incinerator that is supposed to be built to handle the greater load requirements at Pueblo has been on hold since 1988, and if you research further, the Environmental Superfund National Priorities(used to clean toxic areas for human habition, which was gutted by the GHW Bush adminsitration in 1990) hasn't got the funds to clean up the ground water. This when there are now plans to
increase the size of the base.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edited Monday, June 26, 2006 4:24 PM
Transeat In Exemplum: Let this stand as the example.
Also with his prooven ties to terrorists its not that hard to imagine them falling into the wrong / worse hands.