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'Bombing Saddam is ignorance'
The UK Guardian Unlimited ^ | Sunday March 3, 2002 | Henry Porter (The Observer)

Posted on 03/04/2002 5:31:27 PM PST by vannrox

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To: ratcat
What do you think Iran and other Islamic nations are going to do when the U.S. invades Iraq?

I think that they are going to suddenly start glowing, when their surface temperature approaches that of the Sun!

41 posted on 03/29/2002 2:42:53 AM PST by Lucius Cornelius Sulla
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To: DentsRun
I don't understand why so many think it is so difficult to build a nuclear device in this day and age. The only hard part is getting the fuel. There are too many loose ends in the world today like Iran, North Korea that have nuclear reactors that can produce the fuel. And then you have Russia… It is simply a loose end in to itself… With billions in oil money do you really believe these things can't be bought?

I also get tired of those who say "they don't have a delivery system". They don't need long-range missiles to deliver nuclear weapons. They simply need a typical freighter ship or large truck. Tel Aviv is on the coast as is New York, Seattle, LA and San Francisco. You can hope there is some magic detection system that can detect these devices buried deep in a giant cargo ship or oil tanker but that is hugely unlikely. I'd bet a few million gallons of crud oil makes a pretty good radiation absorber especially below the water line… If these detectors are so sensitive then the Russians would know were all our nuclear submarines are, they would be easy to track. They don't, it isn't.

It has always been known that nuclear weapons were at some point going to be in the hands of petty dictators and suicidal tyrants. The question was always when. Why is it so hard to believe that that time has finally arrived? There is nothing more in this world that would make these people more full of themselves and "bold" than having these weapons. Look at what they have done, at what there doing and what their end goal is.

42 posted on 03/29/2002 2:57:39 AM PST by DB
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To: Black Jade
Looks like we are going to be fighting against the al Qaeda in Afganistan and while simultaneously supporting their efforts in Kosovo and Iraq. Damn, world domination gets complicated.
43 posted on 03/29/2002 4:12:40 AM PST by steve50
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To: DB
It has always been known that nuclear weapons were at some point going to be in the hands of petty dictators and suicidal tyrants. The question was always when. Why is it so hard to believe that that time has finally arrived? There is nothing more in this world that would make these people more full of themselves and "bold" than having these weapons. Look at what they have done, at what there doing and what their end goal is.

I think a lot people want us to attack Iraq, not so much because Iraq is a threat to us, but because it's a threat to Israel. If that's what they’re really worried about I wish they would state it forthrightly, not pretend they’re only concerned about American security.

Could Saddam get a nuclear weapon into the United States on a truck from Canada or on a ship from anywhere? I'm sure he could, if he had a nuclear weapon. But as commentator Jude Wanniski has repeated noted, the International Atomic Energy Agency sends its inspectors into Iraq on a regular basis, most recently this past January, and once again they certified that they saw "no signs of nukes or nuclear weapons development."

This doesn’t of course mean Saddam couldn’t get nuclear weapons in the future. But if our policy now is to bomb any country that poses a potential threat, we better begin preparing for an attack on China, which does have both thermonuclear weapons and missiles to deliver them. Furthermore, a couple of years ago a Chinese general threatened to use them against Los Angeles if we stepped out of line over Taiwan.

One might argue that China is a stable country and would never go off half-cocked, something that couldn’t be said for a dictator like Saddam. That might be true. But unlike Osama bin Laden, Saddam is neither a religious fanatic nor a madman. He sought assurances of our forbearance before attacking Kuwait and April Glaspie foolishly gave it to him. And during the first Gulf War he wasn’t so reckless as to fire chemical or biological weapons at Israel (we had warned him what would happen if he did).

Having said all that, I’m not opposed to our going to war with Iraq, if we do it for the right reasons (our own security) and in the right way, meaning we debate all the reasons fully and openly, conclude that nothing else will work, and then follow that up with a declaration of war from congress, as Congress’s original authorization allowing Bush to go after terrorists made no mention of Iraq.

44 posted on 03/29/2002 6:49:10 PM PST by DentsRun
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To: ratcat
Anyone who advocates the use of nuclear weapons to kill entire populations, has the same moral code as the terrorists.

That is not a nice thing to say about Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush, all of whom advocated using nuclear weapons to kill entire populations, should the appropriate occasion arise. Oops, I take it back, it is a nice thing to say about Bill Clinton!

48 posted on 03/29/2002 7:39:28 PM PST by Lucius Cornelius Sulla
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To: DentsRun
Just because the International Atomic Energy Agency sends its inspectors into Iraq does NOT mean they have any clue what Saddam has or is about to have in his secrete weapons labs or for that matter bought on the black market. We may well have inside information from defectors and others of what he has hidden and where it is. If these things were as serious as nuclear weapons or small pox then going public would be a disaster. Bush's goal would be to secure these weapons before they have a chance to move them (or use them).
49 posted on 03/29/2002 8:59:21 PM PST by DB
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To: Black Jade;Admin Moderator
But this is America and we still do have a constitution, with a lst amendment, although I will be the first to admit that our constitution has taken a beating lately, with the "Patriot Act."

That is fine, so long as we notice that you consider that every President since WWII is morally inferior to Osama bin Laden, I guess that you have a right under the First Amendment to say that, just as I have the right to state my opinion that you are a traitor, and are giving aid and comfort to the enemy in a time of war. I guess that the moderators have found your stuff to be acceptable, and I wish you a happy Easter. I also wish that you might be spending it in the company of your friend Arafat. Of course, maybe you ARE Arafat, and this suggestion is superfluous. Whatever!

54 posted on 03/31/2002 12:26:13 AM PST by Lucius Cornelius Sulla
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To: Black Jade
Deep.
55 posted on 03/31/2002 7:28:13 AM PST by mafree
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To: Lucius Cornelius Sulla
Blind Allegiance to the State of your birth is not quite what the Founding Fathers had in mind for the way a free people should live.
56 posted on 03/31/2002 9:13:40 AM PST by Fish out of Water
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To: Black Jade
I'll stand by my previous statement, "you can be sure that we will not be leaving governments hostile to the United States and the West in power."
57 posted on 03/31/2002 1:01:01 PM PST by TheDon
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To: Fish out of Water
Blind Allegiance to the State of your birth is not quite what the Founding Fathers had in mind for the way a free people should live.

"My country, may she always be in the right, but my country right or wrong". Blind allegiance to any enemy of the state of your birth that comes along, so long as it is your country's enemy is certainly not what the Founding Fathers had in mind. I also think that it is less likely to get me prosecuted for treason. After your friends set off a nuclear weapon in this country in the next few months, I will be glad that JimRob has sufficient information to locate you, for the appropriate level of 'questioning' by the CIA and our Mossad allies. Have fun!!

58 posted on 03/31/2002 6:25:41 PM PST by Lucius Cornelius Sulla
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To: Lucius Cornelius Sulla
You sound just like the Palestinian suicide bombers.
59 posted on 03/31/2002 8:12:45 PM PST by Fish out of Water
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To: Fish out of Water
Do not intend to commit suicide, just looking to make Palis die.
60 posted on 03/31/2002 9:14:21 PM PST by Lucius Cornelius Sulla
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