Posted on 10/28/2001 12:17:01 PM PST by grimalkin
You always know a bully's lying when they start shuffling their feet, won't look you in the eye, point fingers at everyone else, then start threatening those that caught him.
Saddam started posturing right after the WTC attack, and before the anthrax letters, didn't he?
Those who are spoiling for a fight with Iraq ought to form Lincoln brigades and move out on the next flight to the middle-east. We'll wait for you to do us proud.
Donchajustluvit how some think lightly of using military proxies to fulfill their warrior tendencies and evening news entertainment armchair fantacies.
You can buy this stuff anywhere but it doesn't come wrapped around anthrax spores 1 micron in size.
The article says bentonite only exists in Iraq. Of course that's fantasy since eastern Colorado is full of it and it exists lots of places.That is not quite what the article said. The point made by the various reports on this subject is that Iraq is the only nation to use bentonite as an aerosolizer in its anthrax program. So far as I have read, no one has contradicted that.
You're missing the obvious. Iraq has presented a credible threat to use weapons of mass destruction against the US civilian population if we try to remove Saddam from power. That's what the anthrax samples in those letters communicated. Much as Bush might like to whack Iraq, he is facing the very real possibility that they will be able to pull off a massive retaliation the moment he strikes. It's ten years since we defeated Saddam in the Gulf War. He's had a lot of time to think up a winning strategy for the rematch. Remember, like it or not, Iraq took the initiative in this war. They didn't do that without some plan to avoid getting whacked. This is it and, so far at least, it seems to be working.
I don't. I sense an utter reluctance on the part of our government to implicate Iraq, and reluctance to take action on other terrorists in other countries. There is big talk to placate the public, but the gov wants this to go away without a major conflict.
In the Gulf War, we called up about 250,000 reservists to prepare for the invasion of Iraq. How many have we called up now? 10,000? 50,000? Reservists and Nat. Guard are critical to our military's warfighting plans. If they aren't calling up 200,000 reserves, you can bet we won't mount any serious military campaign anywhere, including Afghanistan.
The military power we are using now is paltry compared what was used in the Gulf War, and even paltry compared to the war against Serbia a few years ago. Guess we really get mad when Saddam controls the oil, but don't care as much when 5,000 citizens get killed.
Right: Many in the Media are praying for Right Wing blame...
Meanwhile, CNN, NBC, the Washington Post, Newsweek, et al, keep telling us the culprits are "right-wing extremists". From the "midwest", if we are to believe Andrea Mitchell.
I wonder who has the best information...
For starters: 1. Because they have gone to war with us. The evidence will be laid out by Bush when it is to our maximum strategic advantage.
2. They have shown themselves ready, willing and able to employ weapons of mass destruction against their own people and in the war with Iran.
3. They pursue a program of developing weapons of mass destruction (nuclear, biological, and chemical) and the means to deliver them widely.
4. They have used international terrorism as a means of implementing policy. It is highly likely they were the sponsor of the original WTC bombing.
5. They have and continue to threaten the orderly production of petroleum on the Arabian peninsula, which jeapordizes the world economy.
It isn't! These links are random picks from a search on bentonite from the first page on google.
link 1
link 1
link 1
link 1
There is a mine not 50 miles from my home in west TN.
BUT they all are readily identifiable. The government knows exactly where it came from.
My feeling, for what it's worth, is that terrorism will always be a problem unless the states which support it are eradicated. So I don't think we should be abandoning conventional warfare. We need to eliminate state governments and destroy power structures, and replace those governments and structures with those to our liking. Massive conventional force is the way to do that.
The only other option is to support internal dissidents and hope for the best. That has already been tried in Iraq though, with disastrous consequences.
I hope I'm wrong, and George and the boys are planning on doing the needful. But the military is absolutely dependant on Nat. Guard and reserve units to staff the massive support structure needed to undertake a large-scale offensive. We haven't mobilised that force.
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