Ex-U.N. inspector says Iraq invasion justified

Press of Atlantic City ^ | September 20, 2003 | MADELAINE VITALE

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

September 20, 2003

Ex-U.N. inspector says Iraq invasion justified

By MADELAINE VITALE Staff Writer, (609) 272-7218, E-Mail

ATLANTIC CITY - "Terrorists cannot be ignored" was the message at the annual convention of the Utility and Transportation Contractors Association on Friday at the Tropicana Casino and Resort.

Ambassador Richard Butler, former chief United Nations weapons inspector for Iraq, told a couple hundred people that as a nation, we must respond to terrorists - or as Butler refers to them, "nonstate actors."

"These people don't represent anyone," Butler said. "They don't speak for a government. They have come to behave like a state. They use force but not in self-defense. We saw that in 9-11. We saw nonstate actors in their modern form."

Terrorists are nothing more than people who commit indiscriminate homicide to promote their point of view, Butler, the keynote speaker, said with a thick Australian accent.

"They don't know the faces of the people they are killing. They don't want to know," he said.

Butler was chief U.N. inspector in the 1990s and is an expert in weapons of mass destruction. He also has been in foreign service for Australia for 30 years.

Butler said the obvious and most defining events of the 21st century thus far are 9-11 and the invasion of Iraq.

He said the United States and its allies had no choice but to invade Iraq and overthrow Sadaam Hussein's government.

Butler likened Saddam to Adolf Hitler and said the evil dictator used the weapons on live people.

"I want to be plain about this," Butler's voice heightened. "The overthrow of Sadaam Hussein was justified whether or not there was reluctance to authorize it. ... No one could say it is wrong to overthrow a homicidal maniac. The Security Council sat on its hands for 10 years."

As for not finding these weapons allegedly in Iraq, Butler said he is sure Saddam had them. He said Saddam was addicted to the deadly weapons, and whether they are still in Iraq but hidden, moved or destroyed, they did exist.

"Don't believe those who say they aren't there just because we haven't found them. Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction," Butler told the crowd. "Iraq certainly did have weapons of mass destruction. Trust me. I held some in my own hands."

To e-mail Madelaine Vitale at The Press:

MVitale@pressofac.com

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

 Thanks, Tonkin!

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

"I want to be plain about this," Butler's voice heightened. "The overthrow of Sadaam Hussein was justified whether or not there was reluctance to authorize it. ... No one could say it is wrong to overthrow a homicidal maniac. The Security Council sat on its hands for 10 years."

Ping!

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[Ann Archy]

Hopefully David Kay's report will nail down EVERYTHING and make those liberals STFU.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

"Don't believe those who say they aren't there just because we haven't found them. Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction," Butler told the crowd. "Iraq certainly did have weapons of mass destruction. Trust me. I held some in my own hands."

Good to see this in print. Seems like we should all arm ourselves with those highlighter markers, so we can continuously point out that WMDs do exist in Iraq. (IMO)

[MizSterious]

"The Security Council sat on its hands for 10 years."

And would be sitting on them still had it not been for the unplanned (by the U.N. and dems) election of GWB. When we elected Dubya, we elected someone whose foreign policy would consist of more than a photo-op here and there.

[MizSterious]

When will that report be released? I'm really looking forward to it.

[arete]

I guess if you can't find any WMD, you just have to attack terrorism. Butler is so lame.

Richard W.

[jwfiv]

Man, you are such a drag...you hear, but don't listen.

It's fantasy like yours what gets people killed.

Booooooooooring.

[arete]

It's fantasy like yours what gets people killed.

Any lives being lost lay directly at the feet of the Bush administration not those that demand accountability and answers (not mindless spin) from those who hype and engage in war.

Richard W.

[rickmichaels]

"No one could say it is wrong to overthrow a homicidal maniac."

Except the Demonrats.

[geedee]

But . . . but . . . but Hans Blix-Chix just said it wasn't justified. And Daschole and Teddy-bear Kennedy and all the Euro-wannabe libbers now agree with Blix-Chix. Ahhhh . . . it's such a tangled world we live in.

[Movemout]

I was never a Butler fan but it seems that he called this one right. Homicidal maniacs deserve to be deposited on the ash heap of history and so we did it in the face of vociferous objections from Euro trash, libs, and the ash heap itself.

[fml]

Oh puleese, you are so lame!

[Movemout]

I told my wife that this morning. I guess I will pay for that staement for about forever.

[jwfiv]

Awright, arete....your self is in the way of your eye.

A President who lays down and pisses himself in appeasement of terrorists for two full terms is the one who should be held accountable...one BJ Clinton.

The Bush administration inherited the war which Cliinton chose not to fight.

Because Clinton chose not to fight, 3,000 Americans died one beautiful and sad morning.

It ain't a perfect world...the fog we peer through is not only of war, but simply of existence.

Our war on terror is just like any other human enterprise, fraught with good moves and bad moves...it beats standing still and jerking off in the Oval Office bathroom sink.

Your position baffles and frustrates...sorry for my rudeness...I'm just weary of the willful blindness you display, parroting the mindless spin from those who hype and engage in appeasement.

[cyncooper]

I guess if you can't find any WMD, you just have to attack terrorism. Butler is so lame.

Read the whole article and see that Butler did not retreat from the WMD charge. Just the opposite:

As for not finding these weapons allegedly in Iraq, Butler said he is sure Saddam had them. He said Saddam was addicted to the deadly weapons, and whether they are still in Iraq but hidden, moved or destroyed, they did exist.

"Don't believe those who say they aren't there just because we haven't found them. Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction," Butler told the crowd. "Iraq certainly did have weapons of mass destruction. Trust me. I held some in my own hands."

[cyncooper]

Oh oh.

Yeah, you will....

[Pan_Yans Wife]

You tell 'em! :)

[cyncooper]

:)

[arete]

You are blinded from seeing the truth by both you political bias and hate for everything Clinton. "Terrorism" whatever that is, has always been around and always will as long as one side of an issue cannot peacefully resolve problems with the other side. Americans think and believe that they are always right and therefor can impose their will and "enlightened" way of life on others. Doesn't work that way. OBL was given life by the fact that we had a military presence in Suadi Arabia. Would we tolerate a foreign military encampment of our soil and how would we react? There are consequence to our attempts to dominate the world and it would be good to recognize that fact. The only appeasement taking place is our desperate attempts to buy and bribe corrupted political leaders in other countries into supporting our positions. Remember, we support and keep in power the Saudi royals and there are no bigger and better friends of that incestuous and despotic group than the Bush family and friends. Things aren't always as simple as the propagandists would like us to believe.

Richard W.