3ID Captain: We Removed the Al Qaqaa Explosives

[Clandestino]

"So there were indeed stockpiles of dangerous weapons in Iraq which cons uted a "grave threat" to the US"

False. Iraq was no threat to anybody, even Iran, after 10+ years of sanctions, inspectors crawling around, no-fly zones, under nearby continuous US surveillance. The Iraq "problem" was solved long ago.

shrub has now de-stablized a stable, impotent Iraq, created a totally new problem entirely of his own making.

One would assume that the US military would have been watching 360 tons of high explosives like a hawk, but it looks like they were asleep at the wheel ....

you must be kerry's brother... now you're saying the u.s. military is inept... 360 tons of 600,000 tons already destroyed represents .0006%...

and if Iraq was no threat to anyone why did we have the N/S no-fly zones?

[spurster]

On the "grave threat" spin:

I can appreciate the argument that the US needed to invade Iraq because of Saddam and the amount and types of weapons he was known to have (meaning they were listed in the handy UN Guide to Iraqi Weaponry). I don't agree this was a "grave threat", but I would say it is certainly enough to maintain the previous Saddam-in-a-box policy.

I hope you can appreciate the point that the weapons known to the UN were not Bush's rationale for this war. I don't even recall them coming up even once by anybody, only when the missing explosives story came up. I hope you can forgive me of being skeptical of this week's rationale for the war.

Now Iraq did not have the stockpiles of WMDs and was not trying build the nuclear weapon (which would be grave threats to me), but Iraq did have powerful conventional weapons and explosives that the UN knew about and knew where they were. These do not cons ute a grave threat to me, but it's very serious stuff (why else would it be in the UN Guide), so I would think it's not something you want to give away for free, first come, first served.

Yet that is what happened. Instead of keeping us safe, BushCo has given this stuff away to whoever can carry it off. If you actually think it cons uted a grave threat, I would think that would be even more of a reason to vote against Bush. Not only did he drop the ball, but he handed to the other team, and stepped out of the way.

[Marcus Bryant]

You're right. Bush's rationale first and foremost for the war was that he had not fully accounted for his WMD programs as per the original Gulf War I armistice and all of the subsequent UN Security Council resolutions concerning that. Thus the primary reason we did not know with full accuracy what he had.

Now Iraq did not have the stockpiles of WMDs and was not trying build the nuclear weapon (which would be grave threats to me)

Since we are looking at this from 2 years after the fact then Hussein clearly had a plan to end the sanctions and restart his WMD program. Some of those WMD stockpiles could have been rebuilt in a couple of months. Same difference. The status quo was not sustainable.

[Nbadan]

You're right. Bush's rationale first and foremost for the war was that he had not fully accounted for his WMD programs as per the original Gulf War I armistice and all of the subsequent UN Security Council resolutions concerning that. Thus the primary reason we did not know with full accuracy what he had.

A argument has been made that the U.N. (with aid from the U.S.) set up too many barriers to prevent Saddam from every fully complying with all U.N. resolutions. Many have contended that in the closing days, Saddam tried everything in his power to convince as many people as possible that Iraq no longer possessed WMD's. Thus, Germany, France, and Russia refused to join the coalition.

[Marcus Bryant]

What barriers? All he needed to do was disclose the state of his programs, which he didn't. He did just about everything to convince the world that he had WMDs that he could, because he thought with that perception he had power.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

A argument has been made that the U.N. (with aid from the U.S.) set up too many barriers to prevent Saddam from every fully complying with all U.N. resolutions.

What barriers? He had already bought off China, Germany, Russia, and France.

Thus, Germany, France, and Russia refused to join the coalition.

We already have been given a couple billion reasons why those three countries refused to join the coalition. As much as you like to scream about corruption in the Bush Administration, you sure are brushing off the UN's corruption as no big deal.