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Originally Posted by areyoushittin'me?
Please don't get me wrong, I appreciate you contribution in Afghanistan but I still don't see how that is a contribution to Iraq...I can appreciate your argument that you are replacing troops and freeing them up...well done but I'm sure we could come up with necessary troops somehow...hell, we're drawing down from what? 155,000? in Iraq.
Sorry for your losses...yeah, pretty amazing that all we hear is generally along the lines of we won, dang, ain't things goin' good? and then again, there's a greater percentage of KIA...what's up with that?
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I didn't say that Canada was contributing to Iraq, though - only that we were paying a price for the US fighting a two-front war. If you weren't in Iraq, odds are that you've have more troops in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan is pretty tame except for along the Pakistani frontier; the East (where the bulk of US forces are) and the South (where the Canadians, British, and Dutch are... although the Dutch are rotating to more secure areas and are getting replaced some US forces from the East, who themselves are being replaced by some French paratroopers). Overall, I think the area around Kandahar is the main Taliban hotbed of resistance - it's like their version of the "Bible Belt" - lots of rednecks in the hills taking shots at our guys.
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Originally Posted by areyoushittin'me?
If you don't know there intended use how do you know they were barred from obtaining them? Where did they come from? How do you know they were obtained through illicit means? Just curious.
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I got it from the
Senate Intelligence Committee's Report on Prewar Intelligence Assessments (WARNING: Before you click the link, it's a PDF), Page 88:
"In 2001, the IC [Intelligence Community] became aware that Iraq was attempting to procure 60,000 high-strength aluminum tubes manufactured from 7075-T6 aluminum, with an outer diameter of 81 mm... Seven-thousand series aluminum alloy is extremely hard and strong and when formed into a tube of more than 75 mm in diameter, is a controlled item under the Nuclear Suppliers Group and Annex III of UNSCR 687 and 707 which Iraq is prohibited from importing because it could have nuclear applications."
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Originally Posted by areyoushittin'me?
Impasse? It seems to me that it only remains as such as long as you are unwilling to compromise and come up with some faith in the inspection process...you want to defeat Saddam? Give him a clean bill of health.
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The Security Council had compromised with Iraq for 11 years, Areyou - and what had it gained? Every time Saddam was given an inch, he took a mile. What makes you think it would have been any different in 2002-03? Besides, what else was Resolution 1441 about than to signal that the time for compromise had come to an end? Given the uncompromising language of 1441, if the Security Council had continued the policy of compromise with Saddam how much credibility do you think it would have continued to have with Baghdad?
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Originally Posted by areyoushittin'me?
Saddam already lost way back when...he didn't know it because by his way of thinking...as long as he was alive he was winning...dumb shit.
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He wasn't that dumb... he was doing a better job running the country than anyone has done since, hasn't he? Besides, why shouldn't he think he was winning? He pretty much got away with doing whatever he wanted... up until Bush started getting tough with him. Without a Bush-style aggressive approach to Iraq, what makes you think he
ever would have complied? I'm sure that from his perspective, all he had to do was outlast the Security Council. He was more determined to get out from under the sanctions than the Security Council seemed to be to enforce them.
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Originally Posted by areyoushittin'me?
Tell Blix everything? Hell, seems I recall Powell on tv with friggin' satellite photos and some pretty direct claims...why didn't anyone say, "Here's the photos...we think these are mobile chemical labs, and over here we know..."...go check it out and let us know...if it turns out that the trailers are used for gassing up weather balloons...I'd sure like to know for sure before I bomp the crap out of the place...what was the hurry?
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That's the thing about trailers, though... they
move. And they can be hidden - even from satellites. A few dozen weapons inspectors can't be everywhere all at one time in a place the size of Iraq, can they?