[ex-Texan]

Breaking News from the U.K. dated 11/20/2002.

Iraq gets upset and the U.S. is accused of meddling. Nothing new here. Time to move on. To the bombing.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

George W. really is a good poker player.

[Physicist]

The Iraqis were reminded that a failure to meet the deadline would, almost certainly, be seen by the United States as a "material breach" of the resolution and clear the way for an attack. "That seemed to concentrate their minds," said a diplomatic source.

"Depend upon it, sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully." -- Samuel Johnson

[kayak]

:-)

[Optimist]

sponge mattresses and slippers ... Factories producing such items were just two of the examples of the array of sites the UN chief weapons inspector said his team intended to search

Gee, I sure hope Hans gave them a list of ALL the sites that will be inspected.....just so the Iraqis can tidy up a bit.

[WashingtonCollegeofLaw]

Anyone else think that maybe Hans shouldnt tell Saddam where they are going? This guy seems like a big turd.

Hans: "We are planning on visiting this 'Fertilizer' factory tomorrow at noon."
Saddam: "We can have that cleared out by then...deal."

[whadizit]

What a stupid move!! Blix and Co. should be replaced by inspectors who know what they are doing, by God! Why tell Iraqi's where they want to look? Oh, man, give me a break! This is just a farce. We need to get on with business at hand: bombs away!!

[KineticKitty]

The Iraqis were told the UN operation would be much more exhausting, intrusive and comprehensive than anything in the past, and no place, or person, could expect dispensation.

I guess saddam not being able to change the rules and inspectors away on a whim, would make this situation "exhausting, intrusive and comprehensive" especially if they actually have to go thru with the inspections.

An Iraqi Foreign Ministry official said: "This shows it is the Americans who are against the UN inspections, not us

And the umpteen times you guys turned inspectors away in the past 10 years hasn't showed how Iraq is against the UN inspections? Blame America, ...nothing new in that stance.

[MJY1288]

""Iraqis 'staggered' by exhaustive list of demands from UN inspectors"

Wait till they see the list of targets for our J-Dams :-)

[LibWhacker]

The Iraqis were reminded that a failure to meet the deadline would, almost certainly, be seen by the United States as a "material breach" of the resolution and clear the way for an attack.

Good cop, bad cop.

[VaBthang4]

"The Iraqis were reminded that a failure to meet the deadline would, almost certainly, be seen by the United States as a "material breach" of the resolution and clear the way for an attack. "That seemed to concentrate their minds," said a diplomatic source."

All they understand: Overwhelming Brute Force

[Timesink]

DRINK BLIX!

[ppaul]

:

"Dynamic" Hans Blix

[Jeff Chandler]

...an attempt by the Bush administration to scupper the UN mission.

 

Shiver me timbers.

[Rain-maker]

Hans Blix? All we need now his Moe and Curly....

[not-an-ostrich]

The December 8 deadline is for a list of their weapons programs and has nothing whatsoever to do with a list of sights to be visited given to Iraq. The one has nothing to do with the other. Nonsense to state the list could delay the December 8 release of information. Could just be a journalist trying to stir up trouble.

[MindBender26]

By giving ANY list early, you are tipping your hand.

Only way is to go to car in morning and say "Today, we want to go to 123 East Woggie Street. Take us there now!"

[Mixer]

If they search the Mosques and Palaces first it will be a much easier find and we can get this thing over with a lot quicker.

[mhking]

The dinner between one of Saddam Hussein's closest aides and Hans Blix was meant to smooth the thorny path for the renewed United Nations weapons inspections.

Notice, that Blix has yet to meet with Saddam himself. You would think that with such a grave issue, that the head of the nation would want to meet with the person who gets to decide the nation's fate.

Such is the scale of information the UN is demanding, Iraqi officials told Mr Blix's team they may have difficulties meeting the 8 December deadline by which they must submit a detailed report.

Of course, it takes a long time to write "zero" on a tally sheet. Or are they truly not in compliance? [nudge, nudge, wink, wink]

The Iraqis, led by General Husan Amin, asked for "further clarification" of the terms of the US-sponsored UN resolution.

Clarification? All...it's spelled A-L-L. Is that clear enough for you?

UN officials were perturbed by criticism of Mr Blix, a 74-year-old former Swedish foreign minister, by right-wingers in America.

I'm sorry - I just don't have confidence that the Muppet's Swedish Chef can coordinate an effective search for WMD in Iraq. Call me crazy. And as far as I'm concerned, the UN "officials" are on thin ice to begin with.

An Iraqi Foreign Ministry official said: "This shows it is the Americans who are against the UN inspections, not us. They are trying to find pretexts to stop the mission and bomb us."

No, we're tired of playing games, want to do away with this charade and bomb you. It's just a little bit different.

Inspectors have destroyed more weapons here than the bombs have.

To paraphrase Samuel L. Jackson in "Jackie Brown": "Nuclear warheads. When you've got to kill every last mutha-f***** in the room, accept no substitutes!"

[nonliberal]

The shell game begins...

[1Old Pro]

"Iraqi officials told Mr Blix's team they may have difficulties meeting the 8 December deadline by which they must submit a detailed report. "

Just as RUSH predicted, Iraq will say they need a couple of years to comply.