Sordid affair

IT'S PROBABLY wishful thinking to expect - in the home stretch of an overheated U.S. presidential election race - very much reasoned debate on the final report of the top U.S. arms inspector concerning Saddam Hussein's regime and his pursuit of weapons of mass destruction.

Predictably, some have seized on Charles Duelfer's findings, delivered last week, that Saddam had no stockpiles of WMDs and no active capability to reconstitute those weapons programs, to argue that the U.S.-led invasion was therefore wrong since Iraq posed no threat to the world.

Others have pointed out, however, that the same report concludes the Iraqi dictator fully intended to pursue the production of chemical and nuclear weapons once the burden of sanctions and international inspections was lifted from his country.

Unsurprisingly, the opposing campaigns of President George Bush and Senator John Kerry have each spun the report to back their own rhetoric. Mr. Bush argues that Mr. Duelfer's findings are "proof" that Iraq was a potential menace, both in itself and by potentially arming terrorists, and had to be neutralized. Meanwhile, Mr. Kerry accuses the president of rushing to war by misleading the nation about the imminent danger posed by Saddam.

In a sense, both are right. Saddam clearly did not possess the WMDs many intelligence agencies, not just the Americans, believed he did. UN inspections through the '90s had more effectively defanged the tyrant than many people realized. Though the possibility still exists, Mr. Duelfer noted, that some WMDs may yet be hidden or were spirited out of the country, it's now obvious that Saddam had no large-scale WMD stockpiles with which to threaten anybody.

At the same time, Mr. Duelfer indicated, Saddam also had every intention to rearm himself with WMDs as soon as sanctions were lifted and the world's attention was diverted elsewhere. Iraqi scientists expected a resumption in efforts to build nuclear weapons; plans for chemical weapons were frozen, not abandoned.

It will ultimately be up to the U.S. electorate to decide whether Mr. Bush made the right choice in invading Iraq when he did.

But just as important, Mr. Duelfer's report reveals how Saddam subverted the UN's oil-for-food program, with willing accomplices in countries like France, Russia and China, to prop up his regime by siphoning billions from humanitarian efforts and blunting the impact of international sanctions on his country. Top UN officials themselves have been implicated in what must be seen as a scandal that threatens the credibility of all future international sanction efforts.

The perception that French officials and those from other nations may have sought to dilute or remove sanctions from Iraq prior to 9/11 in return for kickbacks from Saddam, using the UN's oil-for-food scheme - and that those considerations may also have affected their willingness to take action to enforce UN resolutions - are deeply troubling.

Saddam's miscalculated bluff on WMDs has turned a light on a very sordid affair.

"Saddam's miscalculated bluff on WMDs has turned a light on a very sordid affair."

Thank G-d! How damn lucky we are that POKER is perhaps the biggest new thing on TV right now!

For in POKER the BLUFF is a constantly played tactic ... and by watching TV poker people have come to re-understand that, gee whiz batman, lying and duplicity are a normal part of human endeavors.

So they can and they now do understand what has gone on here -- Saddam bluffed and we went ALL IN.

In a sense, both are right. Saddam clearly did not possess the WMDs many intelligence agencies, not just the Americans, believed he did.

You have to stretch things to make the no WMD a "clear" thing - even Iraqi intelligence and Generals thought they had WMD; there is no way we could have concluded that there were none. Going after Saddam was the only prudent and intelligent thing to do.

I don't know why all parties continue to report that no WMDs were found in Iraq. The Duelfer Repost states that 53 Chemical WMDs have been found in Iraq since June of this year. The complete report is available on the following CIA website:

http://www2.cia.gov/Iraqs_WMD_Vol3.pdf

Check out Page 30.

Forty one SAKR-18 Sarin tipped rockets were found in one location. The SAKR-18 is an Egyption manufactured copy of the Soviet BM-21. Each Rocket has a range of 20-40 Km depending on the rocket motor and carries a 38 Kg war head. This particular version of the SAKR carries the capability of dispersing smoke for battlefield concealment. Anyone of these fired into a population center or smuggled into a public gathering could easily inflict 10X – 100X the casualties of 911. The real danger was in one of these getting into the hands of terrorists.

The French, UN et al put off the war just long enough for the trucks to rumble across the border to Syria, etc.

According to the latest reports, the French were negotiating with Saddam to sell him weapons just three weeks before we went in to Iraq.

Apparently the French had no problem with our soldiers being killed with munitions stamped "Made in France"

That and along with the Oil for Food farce is why the French and Germans and UN didn't want to take Saddam out.

Seeing money trumping morals and innocent people dying for it is sickening.

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