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To: Diddley
For the moment lets assume that the Carnegie Endowment isn't a front group and this Jessica Tuchman Mathews is well intentioned.

The critical flaws are many, but here goes

1)Her proposal requires a large forced (several hundred thousand combatants) forward deployed for a rather long and undetermined period while the inspections proceed. A) The cost of this force in the field is significant. B) The USA and UK have mobilized reserves, the troops are deployed in the field not in fixed bases. I assume Mrs. Mathews has not spent say 120 days in the Kuwaiti desert sleeping in the sand in a tent and eating MREs. C) The total force projection causes power vacuums around the world. USA force projection capabilities are not endless. This deployment represents a significant percentage of our capabilities. Others will cause mischief while we're tied down.

2) How much will the USA have to pay nations to allow us to be the UN's right arm. What are the consequences politically of such large forces stationed in arab countries. Iraq gets to prepare massive defenses to face off against our troops fixed deployments. Islamist or Baathist supported terrorist get to hit our troops in station.

3) Iraq, Islamists and opportunistic anti-American Leftists would have time to build their fifth column power against any use of the US force. Iraq would expand and target its bribes - both direct of individual leaders on the UNSC and of the country's themselves on the UNSC.

4) Saddam can play the game indefinately. Giving enough to ward off attack while seeking to develop a WMD inventory which would become large and sophisticated enough to become a deterent to any US action. The game continues until Saddam eventually is able to have the rate of growth in his covert WMD program exceed the rate he must give up elements of his WMD to the UN to ward them off and reach deterence.

If I'm Saddam I'll take this offer happily. I'll ask the French to raise it for me at the UNSC. I'll ship some of my WMD peeps to say Sudan and work on Bios and Chems there. ($ and people can be moved off shore for a secondary development play). Hell I'll buy a bunch of freighters and station labs on them and float them around the Indian Ocean. I'll hire some good Euro-Lawyers to find the types of ships the UN can;t search and put stuff on them. Maybe I'll move some labs to Embassies and smuggle stuff in diplomatic bags.

Give me more than just a few minutes to think on this and I'll cook up plenty of other ways to get around it. Here's $2 billion for some more French Mirage Jets.
12 posted on 03/15/2003 12:17:44 AM PST by 7o62x39
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To: 7o62x39
Of course, Saddam would jump at this offer.

Besides the points you make, it doesn't begin to address the human rights issues.
13 posted on 03/15/2003 12:23:10 AM PST by Diddley
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To: 7o62x39
The Carnegie is the elephant graveyard for failed and frustrated State Department officials and former Ambassadors.
18 posted on 03/15/2003 5:28:03 AM PST by gaspar
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