Bush should give Iraq time

The Oracle (U. South Florida) ^ | 09/18/2002 | Paul Willms

[NorCoGOP]

TAMPA, Fla. -- Iraq all but opened its doors to weapons inspectors as of Tuesday morning. But President George W. Bush has warned the United Nations not to be fooled by Iraq's promise to allow inspectors into its borders. By continuing to push for preemptive action despite these developments, Bush is forcing the United States into an unnecessary war. If Iraq said it will allow weapons inspectors, it should be given a chance to comply.

Iraq also announced yesterday its plans to meet with U.N. Security Council officials to decide on the details of the weapons inspections. Bush, however, sees the new development as a distraction. White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said Tuesday, "He [Hussein] has a history of playing 'rope-a-dope' with the world - all the while he develops a more powerful punch." That would be a good point, if the Bush administration had the evidence to support it.

Both Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair have used a report from the International Atomic Energy Agency as proof that Iraq has nuclear capabilities. But according to the British newspaper, New Statesman, neither Bush nor Blair has seen any proof of Iraqi nuclear weapons because the cited report doesn't give any.

Bush and Blair gave statements on Iraq's weapons capability based on one another's comments to the press, never truly giving any real evidence. The IAEA report that was cited actually stated, in summary, that Iraq has not produced nuclear weapons, has not retained the ability to produce nuclear weapons and has not obtained the material to do so.

No matter what Iraq has done in the past, the primary focus of the Bush administration should be to prevent a war that could potentially take American lives. With little or no evidence available and Iraqi officials agreeing to weapons inspections, Bush should give Iraq a chance to comply and continue seeking U.N. support in case Iraq changes its position.

[NorCoGOP]

...has a history of playing 'rope-a-dope' with the world - all the while he develops a more powerful punch." That would be a good point, if the Bush administration had the evidence to support it.

Yeah...I guess 16 broken UN resolutions, the history of invading neighbors, firing missiles at numerous countries, the cash payment to homicide bombers, and the fact he has never NOT used a weapon in his arsenal just isn't enough.

I just hope the mushroom clouds as the ultimate evidence is enough to convince, just before you're vaporized....

From the terrorist friendly campus of USF, folks....

[TxBec]

Iraq all but opened its doors to weapons inspectors as of Tuesday morning

Exactly. The doors are still closed.

[Coop]

Come on! The first eleven years were just feeling each other out. Can't we all just get along? :-p

[Dog Gone]

Saddam had his chance.

[Digger]

We should give Saddam time....about 30 minutes!

[JennysCool]

Is Florida called the "Sunshine State" because when you peer in a Floridian's ear, you can see sunlight streaming in from the other ear?

[PRND21]

"He [Hussein] has a history of playing 'rope-a-dope' with the world

Time for 'Nuke-a-Puke'?

[TomGuy]

Yeh, right. 11 years hasn't been long enough. Saddam needs another year--then he will have nukes ready.

[LiteKeeper]

They opened the "doors" to inspectors, not "inspections" - and then only on military bases - not where the real work is going on: hospitals, residential areas, palaces, etc.

Is there any one in FL paying attention?

[Hobsonphile]

BWAHAHAHA!

Bump for later ping (I am at the office and my list is at home).

[dfwgator]

Let's see we gave Hitler plenty of time too. Plenty of time to:

Invade the Saar and the Rhineland
Take over Austria
Take over Czechoslovakia
Invade Poland.

We tried appeasement before, it didn't work then, and it won't work now.

[LiteKeeper]

How long does it take to brief the pilots and fly them to the target? Take that time and subtract 30 minutes.

[MHGinTN]

According to the Iraq conditions for their 'unconditional' agreement, the doors to everything in Iraq will be closed, except to military instillations ... of course it has already been amply proven that Insane stores his WMD in schools, hospitals, palaces, and private residences! Snivelling appeasement will kill more Americans than terrorists did on 9/11 by allowing the development and covert export of WMD. Sadly, the dimocrats are already successful in obfuscating this truth and there is no indication the voting public has or will see through the dimocrat games that endanger US so.

[RightWhale]

Bush and Blair gave statements on Iraq's weapons capability based on one another's comments to the press, never truly giving any real evidence

These people are unbelievable. Does anyone need to know this real evidence? Is it up to the public to decide to place the lives of certain people in jeopardy by releasing sensitive information?

[BillCompton]

No matter what Iraq has done in the past, the primary focus of the Bush administration should be to prevent a war that could potentially take American lives.

So the primary focus should be to prevent war? Is the primary focus of a policeman to prevent arresting a bank robber? And what is this "could potentially take American lives"? There is no potentially to it...it definately will take American lives. This guy is either one of three things:
1) Too young and uneducated to understand the dangers of pacifism.
2) Too sissy and weak to take the risk necessary to ensure the American way of life. (And he is not the one who really has to take the risk and still he is scared.)
3) He is a party-line Democrate opposing the adminstration in an attempt to damage them politically

I hope he is option one. Then there is hope for him.

[Hugin]

The inspectors themselves say they cannot find Saddam's WMD unless he tells them where they are. They cannot possible search every building in Iraq, even if they have unfettered access to go whereever they want (which of course they won't anyway). And the Iraqis deny having any WMDs to reveal. What a joke.

[rudypoot]

"If Iraq said it will allow weapons inspectors, it should be given a chance to comply."

Iraq did get a chance. We got it's response and it wasn't satisfactory. End of story and end of Saddam.

[CT]

How's this for time?: 10-9-8-7-6.........

[MEGoody]

I heard on the news this morning that Iraq has already put conditions on the inspectors (e.g. they can only inspect military sites). Is anyone surprised? I'm not. Bush is right - Saddam is just playing games.

[TrappedInLiberalHell]

Inspections, in my opinion, have always been nothing more than a feel-good exercise in futility. No sane person could believe that inspectors could possibly find ALL WMDs, or even necessarily ANY of them. Saddam could have a few thousand liters of Anthrax sitting in one of his palaces, in a secret wall or floor, or maybe well underground in a heavily fortified room that no inspector will ever even know about, even IF granted access to previously off-limits areas like palaces.

Iraq isn't a huge country, but when you're looking for something that can theoretically cause death many times over for the entire population of the world, and can fit in a room the size of your average American living room (or scattered in thousands of sites, each occupying a space no bigger than a mason jar), it's big enough!