Regards, Ivan
Posted on 11/23/2002 4:41:16 PM PST by MadIvan
American special forces commandos have been ordered to launch covert operations against arms supply lines to terrorists and the three rogue nations referred to by President George W. Bush as the "axis of evil".
Mr Bush has signed a classified executive order giving special forces unprecedented authority to combat and, if necessary, destroy arms suppliers who aid terrorism and any attempts to develop weapons of mass destruction.
Last night the Pentagon confirmed that Mr Bush gave the order last month, shortly after the White House confronted North Korea with evidence that it was secretly buying nuclear technology.
His move followed a debate within the administration over the wisdom of allowing military special forces to operate clandestinely in countries where America is not openly at war, and where in some cases the local government may not even be aware of their presence.
Earlier this month, the Central Intelligence Agency used a remote-controlled Predator aircraft to launch a missile at suspected al-Qaeda members in Yemen, killing six. America considers al-Qaeda members to be military targets, "combatants" under international law.
However, the United Nations charter forbids a nation to intervene in the internal affairs of a country with which it is not at war.
The new Pentagon-led operations will be directed at shipments to Iraq, Iran and North Korea, and at terrorist groups including al-Qaeda, wherever they are based. The targets include arms and any scientific equipment suspected of having a "dual use" for the manufacture of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.
Mr Bush's decision comes as United Nations weapons inspectors prepare to make the first checks on suspected Iraqi weapons sites for four years, beginning on Wednesday. Iraq is suspected of attempting to import materials for its weapons programmes by covert routes.
As American officials continued to threaten military action at the first sign of Iraqi deception or obstruction, Jacques Baute, the chief nuclear weapons inspector, urged Western governments to be patient.
He also took aim at hawks within the Bush administration, who have questioned the ability of inspectors to unravel Saddam's weapons programmes. "The inspectors should be given a chance," Mr Baute told The Sunday Telegraph. "It's easy to criticise us in advance, but now we can start to explore the real stance of Iraq in terms of co-operation.
"Weeks and even months will demonstrate that both sides can do a very professional and useful job . . . Undermining the inspections right now will not help solve the problems we have."
Inspections are a nonsense. Get out of the way and let the real warriors for peace kill the enemy - Ivan
Even if Iraq co-operated fully it would take "several months to a year" before inspectors could be "reassured" that Saddam was not trying to make nuclear weapons.
Saddam has been given a deadline of December 8 to produce a list of all his weapons stocks and production lines which could be used to make weapons.
The growing threat of American-led military action in the region is stirring Islamic extremism and anti-American violence even in countries thought to be staunch allies.
In Kuwait, likely to be at the forefront of military operations against Iraq, officials last night announced the extradition from Saudi Arabia of a Kuwaiti policeman accused of shooting at and seriously injuring two American soldiers, the latest in a series of attacks against Americans which have raised serious questions about Washington's crucial ally.
Other violence has left one marine dead and three soldiers injured in the past six weeks. One Kuwaiti defence official said the attacks were part of "a worrying new trend". The real threat, he said, is to be found not in the mosques or religious schools but in the pool halls and cyber cafes frequented by young, wealthy and disaffected Kuwaitis.
Noah is one such Kuwaiti, a self-styled terrorist who shoots pool all night long, describes Osama bin Laden as a hero and claims to be in regular contact with al-Qaeda operatives on the internet
"I see what the Americans are doing in Palestine, hear that they are threatening war with Iraq and it fills me with anger," he said. "I want to get the Americans out of this whole region, by any means."
He claimed to know the 17-year-old boy who last month tried to attack a residential complex housing Western businessmen - known as the Twin Towers of Kuwait - with 10 molotov cocktails.
But such a clearly amateurish attempt, and the bravado of Noah and others like him, should not disguise the fact that they are prime recruiting material for al-Qaeda networks operating in the Gulf region.
Kuwaiti authorities last weekend announced the arrest of Mohsen Fadhli, a senior al-Qaeda commander and a 21-year-old "graduate" of the cyber cafes and pool halls, who confessed to trying to raise funds for a terrorist atrocity in Yemen.
The linking of Kuwaiti money with Yemen, already a hotbed of terrorist activity and as The Telegraph revealed last week, the possible refuge of Osama bin Laden, has also raised grave concerns.
Regards, Ivan
That's about the amount of time that other experts estimate Saddam needs to have a nuclear device ready.
Our response involves far more than instant retaliation and isolated strikes. Americans should not expect one battle, but a lengthy campaign unlike any other we have ever seen. It may include dramatic strikes visible on TV and covert operations secret even in success.
President Bush's address to a joint session of Congress and the nation.
Who cares .. The United Nations had their chance to stand up and do the right thing ..
They failed and now they are nothing but a JOKE!
Good to hear it. We need to hit these al-Qaeda scum and their supporters where they live. The only way to do it is to be ruthless. Ahkmed had a choice of going down the easy way or the hard way. They chose the hard way, I see no problem with obliging them.
Imho, barring existing indisputable evidence of cheating by Iraq, the best way to trip up Saddam is to have already sold him, months ago, crucial production equipment ourselves through friendly proxies.
If he doesn't declare it on Dec 8, then we attack him, knowing full well we have all the proof we need. You can be 100% positive that if it's crucial and he hasn't been able to obtain it elsewhere, he will not declare it.
What it would take to convince Hans Blix that Saddam was making nuclear weapons, and that he should report this back to the Security Council, is by contrast not measured in time at all. What it would take is more akin to a religious conversion to truth-telling.
These stupid idiots are delusional and their collective clueslessness prevents them from realizing that it has been 10 years since previous U.N. Resolutions were passed, circumvented and then ignored.
The U.N. and the previous administration is as much or more to blame as Saddam for the current circumstances. Their willingness to turn a blind eye and sit on their hands for 10 years has put Bush in the position he is now. He is the first one mature enough to acknowledge a problem and he is the first to willingly do something about it, depite all the handringing from the former deadbeats who shirked their responsibility.
It is that shirking of responsibility that now has Bush in a position where he is forced to act aggressively. He is tring to deal with a cancer that grew while it was ignored, so more healthy tissue is going to have to go along with cancer. He can't be blamed for any loss of healthy tissue. That is the responsibility of those that ignored the cancer when it could have been dealt with in a much less "invasive" manner.
The U.N., and especially the "inspection bereaucrats" have a lot to gain by not dealing with the problem. There is $250 Million dolloars sitting in a UN fund (derived from the Oil for Food Sales), allocated to their own little bureacracy. Of course they want to continue with the inspections charade. It is quite profitable for them. I wish more people would discuss that.
Their attitude now is nothing more than either a subconscious effort to cover their own a--, or an intentional effort to keep the charade going to preserve their power (and probable profits sitting in a Swiss bank account), more than it is a belief that Bush is recklessly charging ahead with some type of score to settle. To proetect their own ego (or cover their complicit, criminal behavior), they have to keep pretending that they "haven't been given a chance."
Given a choice between "regime change" in Iraq or a complete dismantling of the UN, I would almost have to conclude that the latter would be more beneficial to citizens of the world.
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