What if ... We Never Went to War With Iraq?

[SEGUET]

"I love it when the bait gets bitten."

It's a b**ch when they throw the hook - you go Dude.

[AmishDude]

Lybia got balistics with chemical warheads from Iran today - so Sadam is just going to have to wait his turn.

Would you be talking about "Libya" and "Saddam". It's always nice to get cutting-edge, detail-free news full of misspellings.

[NMC EXP]

...but the nation is stronger without such drains.

---

And ultimately safer.

Regards

J.R.

[decimon]

At least Neville Chamberlain had the cajones to declare war on the nazis first.

Fat Congas® Cajones are adaptations of the traditional Cuban, and Peruvian cajones. Our cajones are constructed of the highest quality Birch plywood.

Cojones.

[AmishDude]

It's a b**ch when they throw the hook - you go Dude.

I wouldn't know.

[SEGUET]

"I wouldn't know"

You forgot to finish that sentence Dude -

"anything." was the final word.

Hook up old Dobbin, get in the Buggy and stay on the right side of the highway as you ride off into the sunset. (Oh - light the kerosene headlights and put on your seat belt.)

[SEGUET]

"At least Neville Chamberlain had the cajones to declare war on the nazis first."

Well, I didn't know that - Neville did have cajones - huh -how about that - Birch Plywood cajones.

[ml/nj]

What if a moose bit your sister?

A tres intelligent response. How can I ever thank you?

ML/NJ

[AmishDude]

light the kerosene headlights

Well, this has deteriorated. Tell ya what, light your own. And make sure you use a big open flame.

[decimon]

Well, I didn't know that - Neville did have cajones - huh -how about that - Birch Plywood cajones.

But I'll bet they weren't "Fat Congas."

[Arkinsaw]

A tres intelligent response. How can I ever thank you?

That's easy.....just keep posting faskinatin' gems like this one and thats thanks enuff.

[Inkie]

Right. Let's allow someone who doesn't care if the world blows up get his finger on the button. At least the Soviets and the Chi-Coms care if they live or die.

[muleboy]

Damned interesting questions. Many thanks for the post.

When Saddam complained about Kuwait's slant-drilling in the border territory Iraq considered to be rightfully their own, and asserted that he may have to take action, April Glaspie replied "The U.S. is not concerned with Iraq's internal disputes".

Is that a "YES"? I'd say so.

Saddam had been our pal and perhaps largest customer for weaponry, including anthrax (whose brilliant idea that was, I don't know)all during the tenure of VP and then President GHW Bush.

Iraq uses all those wonderful weapons we sold him to invade Kuwait, and lo and behold, after a week or so of wimpish dithering, Maggie Thatcher comes over, sticks a rod up GHWB's ..um.. spine, and out comes the memorable phrase "This will not stand".

I'll bet Saddam was aghast, muttering "what the ****?

A very interesting question about the nature and focus of radical islamic terrorist actions had the Western powers not reacted to Kuwaiti pleas and Saudi/Israeli pressure. It may well have been that Saddam's regime would have become the primary focus of terrorist acts and we may well have come to his aid, thus initiating the "War on Terror" up to 10 years ago.

Ain't history wonderful?

[ml/nj]

Within one week of 9/11/2001 Tehran and Baghdad should have been leveled.

This isn't far from what I suggested then. I would have included Medina too.

But now, it's too late. Our grate [stet] Foreign Policy team has been dicking around, arguing among themselves, for so long that whatever military action we would take now would cause us to be viewed as the aggressor.

ML/NJ

[Tokhtamish]

Saddam Hussein's goal, one for which it was quite right to stop him in 1991, went a lot further than Kuwait.

His goal was to make Iraq the core state of the Islamic world, to fulfil the historical role that had been vacant since the fall of the Ottoman Empire. Iraq had an enormous army, massive oil wealth, and an educated, modern population. Given control of half the world's oil it would become the world's fourth power.

Questions presuming rationality on the part of Saddam Hussein miss two vital facts.

1. The man is a megalomaniac.
2. To legitamize his role as center of the Islamic world, he MUST take on it's "enemies". Israel and the United States. By confronting them he would proclaim that HE speaks for the Arab world. So of course he sent missiles against Israel as a statement of his Arab leadership.

There is another factor which I am surprised no one else saw. Family relations between Saddam Hussein and the Jordanian royal family were close. What if there had been a dynastic marriage ? From the Iraqi side would have come the most powerful nation in the Arab world. From the Jordanian side would have come kinship with the Prophet Mohammed and a legitimate dynastic claim to be Guardian of the Holy Places of Mecca and Medina. Add it all together and we have the restoration of the Caliphate in Baghdad. Every Arab knows the date 1258, the year of unspeakable catastrophe when Hulagu Khan's Mongols sacked Baghdad and killed the last Abbasid caliph. For a culture obsessed with romantic images of ancient glory, restoring the caliphate in Baghdad would be one hell of a statement that Iraq is now the center of the Muslim world.

[CharacterCounts]

Ain't history wonderful?

Rewrites even more so!

[ml/nj]

What if somebody mentioned cheese?

Thanks for the really intelligent reply.

ML/NJ

[ml/nj]

What you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things ...

And, you, I assume are the personification of intelligence.

Did you ever take the SATs? Did you take them before they dumbed down the scoring levels?

Did you ever get a score that was reported with only closed curves?

I'm guessing, No.

ML/NJ

[AmishDude]

And, you, I assume are the personification of intelligence.

Oh, man.

Did you ever take the SATs?

You don't want to go there.

Did you ever get a score that was reported with only closed curves?

OK, do me a favor. Go to my profile page. Scroll down. Click on the link with the letters "AMS" and report back when you figure out what it stands for.

Oh man.

[DentsRun]

I've often wondered why no discussion of a new idea around here around here is never complete without multiple references to Hitler. Do people actually think that just by bringing up the name Hitler they've delivered such a devastating blow to their opponent that he has nothing left to say? If people insist on reasoning by analogy couldn't they add a few more names to the pitching rotation like Atilla the Hun? Blue Duck? Vlad the Impaler?