Posted on 10/11/2001 3:21:07 AM PDT by maquiladora
I dislike sporting metaphors, but in this case I'll make an exception.
Stop looking at next week's game!
GWB hasn't won this weeks yet. Far from it. He has stones but are they big enough to order the fight until the Taliban are wiped from the face of the Earth? We'll see. And then we can talk about Iraq.
January 26, 1998
Dear Mr President
"We are writing you because we are convinced that current American policy toward Iraq is not succeeding, and that we may soon face a threat in the Middle East more serious than any we have known since the end of the Cold War. We urge you to enunciate a new strategy that would secure the interests of the US and our friends and allies around the world. That strategy should aim, above all, at the removal of Saddam Hussein's regime from power.
"The policy of 'containment' of Saddam has been steadily eroding over the past several months. As recent events have demonstrated, we can no longer depend on our partners in the Gulf war coalition to continue to uphold the sanctions or to punish Saddam when he blocks or evades UN inspections. Our ability to ensure that Saddam is not producing weapons of mass destruction, therefore, has substantially diminished. Even if full inspections were eventually to resume, which now seems highly unlikely, experience has shown that it is difficult if not impossible to monitor Iraq's chemical and biological weapons production. The lengthy period during which the inspectors will have been unable to enter many Iraqi facilities has made it even less likely that they will be able to uncover all of Saddam's secrets. As a result, in the not-too-distant future we will be unable to determine with any reasonable level of confidence whether Iraq possesses such weapons.
"Such uncertainty will, by itself, have a seriously destabilising effect on the entire Middle East. It hardly needs to be added that, if Saddam does acquire the capability to deliver weapons of mass destruction, as he is almost certain to do if we continue along the present course, the safety of American troops in the region, of our friends and allies like Israel and the moderate Arab states, and a significant portion of the world's supply of oil will all be put at hazard. As you have rightly declared, Mr President, the security of the world in the first part of the 21st century will be determined largely by how we handle this threat.
"Given the magnitude of the threat, the current policy, which depends for its success on the steadfastness of our coalition partners and on the cooperation of Saddam, is dangerously inadequate. The only acceptable strategy is one that eliminates the possibility that Iraq will be able to use or threaten to use weapons of mass destruction. In the near term, this means a willingness to undertake military action as diplomacy is clearly failing. In the long term, it means removing Saddam and his regime from power. That now needs to become the aim of American foreign policy."
[Signed] Donald Rumsfeld [now Secretary of Defence], Paul Wolfowitz [now Deputy Secretary of Defence], Robert Zoellick [now US Trade Representative], Richard Armitage [now Deputy Secretary of State], John Bolton [now Under Secretary of State], Paula Dobriansky [now Under Secretary of State], Peter Rodman [now Assistant Secretary of Defence], Elliott Abrams [now a senior NSC official], Zalmay Khalilzad [now a senior NSC official], Richard Perle [now a key Bush adviser]
www.newamericancentury.org/iraqclintonletter.htm
Can Tony Blair guarantee to us that Iraq will not develop terrorist weapons?
While all the time hiding behind American military power.
Nothing is said about this because the West needs cheap Saudi Oil to meet its energy needs.
For Saudi Arabia there is only one needle in its Islamic haystack, Saddam Hussian.
Saddam Hussian is a blood thirsty Dictator buy he is also a secular dictator, more interested in make Iraq a major power than making Iraq a fundamentalist Islamic state.
The Saudi Arabian Royal family are afraid of Saddam.
This is a major leverage for America in keeping her military power in the region.
This leverage they use on Saudi Intelligence who in turn use leverage to make sure that Hamas and Islamic Jihad don’t rock the boat to much.
In other words both Israel and the terrorist have what amounts to a damage and kill quota, this is managed by America and Saudi Arabia.
America did not remove Saddam when they had the chance, because without the threat of Saddam, America would lose its leverage over Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia would then be free to increase its already considerable power in the Islamic world, and its aim to create a Islamic Super State
Tony One of the biggest silent sponsors of Islamic Terrorism throughout the world is Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia is a major sponsor of Islamic Jihad and Hamas.
Both Israeli and American Intelligence know this but Saudi Arabia is too important to America to rock the boat.
Tony
They are going to try to ignore Iraq if they can and I don't think Saddam is stupid enough to provoke the Bush administration, just needle them. Descretion is the better part of valour, and however much I hate to say it I think we shall see a thaw in the relationship rather than an increase in the heat.
Why did United States put Saddam Hussian in power in 1975?
And why didn 't we finish the job in the gulf war?
According to another post on FR giving the response of Iraq to the mandate, you are right. Good call.
We already have thousands of our murdered citizens. What more is it going to take?
The military leaders are taking care of today's business. It is the job of the government to take care of tomorrow's as well.
I pray he's a man of his word.
Are you kidding? We aren't the field commanders. We are news analysts. If someone wants to talk about Iraq, perhaps there is a good reason.
I think this is a very important topic to discuss. Every passing month makes Iraq stronger. In time, Saddam will impliment his master plan. He never has been satisfied with owning Iraq. Saddam attacked Iran AND Kuwait.
During Desert Storm, Saddam sent missiles into Israel. He even turned the Persian Gulf into a giant oil slick just for spite. He enjoys experimenting with terror weapons on his political opponents.
One day, Saddam will make Bin Laden look like a boy scout. But Powell has his dang EGO, which is more important than world safety. And Tony Blair, being a diehard liberal, buys the spin that people are starving in Iraq when their top two reasons for death are related to overeating. One is diabetes, I forget the other.
Perhaps we can get help from Russia to attack Iraq, if not from Blair.
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