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To: GraniteStateConservative
Which is worse?

A president (Clinton) who believed Saddam posed a threat, that he had WMD and intended to use or sell them, and that regime change was the only way to remove the threat...yet did nothing.

Or a president who received the same intelligence, updated in a post-9/11 world, determined the threat had to be neutralized, and did just that?

People seem to have forgotten Clinton's huge buildup of forces in the Arab deserts in 1998. An enormous invasion force was gathered to force Saddam to allow inspectors in. Then Kofi Annan flew to Baghdad and concluded that he could "do business" with Saddam. Clinton tucked tail and withdrew the forces and...Ba da bing!...Saddam kicked out the inspectors two weeks later. 4 years passed before they would return.

Kerry et al, in their opposition to invasion last year, would've had us repeat that sorry episode. Once again building up forces to force inspections, but heaven forbid we should use them. How happy would we have made Saddam by handing him the opportunity to leave our troops sweltering in the desert with their equipment breaking down and training going stale? In light of the 1998 episode, it wasn't an option. When Bush sent in the forces in late 2002 the only way they were coming home was by way of Baghdad....and everyone knew it, despite what they say today.
12 posted on 02/05/2004 5:13:45 AM PST by Timeout ("Earn this. Earn it."....)
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To: Timeout
Clinton, like other nations and other people, felt that Saddam wasn't a direct threat to the US because in 1999 and thereafter, he didn't have the capacity to launch WMD at us and he didn't have stockpiles and that inspections were keeping him boxed in as it relates to this issue.

Saddam deserved to be ousted, certainly. We could have probably gotten a huge contingent of troops on the border had it been clear they were there to force inspections alone. The number of our troops sweltering would have been small and they'd be cycled back for R&R more frequently than now.
16 posted on 02/05/2004 6:37:30 AM PST by GraniteStateConservative ("You can dip a pecan in gold, but it's still a pecan"-- Deep Thoughts by JC Watts)
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To: Timeout
Kerry et al, in their opposition to invasion last year, would've had us repeat that sorry episode. Once again building up forces to force inspections, but heaven forbid we should use them. How happy would we have made Saddam by handing him the opportunity to leave our troops sweltering in the desert with their equipment breaking down and training going stale? In light of the 1998 episode, it wasn't an option.

Absolutely dead-on.

There was no excuse for the U.N. not following through on its threats either.

20 posted on 02/05/2004 3:39:37 PM PST by lepton
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