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Saddam and the French Connection
The Scotsman ^ | Thu 7 Oct 2004 | FRASER NELSON, FRASER NELSON AND JAMES KIRKUP

Posted on 10/06/2004 5:10:59 PM PDT by Ginifer

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1 posted on 10/06/2004 5:10:59 PM PDT by Ginifer
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To: Ginifer

If he didn't have WMD, why didn't he just say so?


2 posted on 10/06/2004 5:12:39 PM PDT by Howlin (What's the Font Spacing, Kenneth?)
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To: Ginifer

Interesting complex issue.

Will Kerry claim his "Global Test" could have turned around Chirac?


3 posted on 10/06/2004 5:16:58 PM PDT by Shermy
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To: Howlin
I continue to support the belief that he did have WMD which will be found either buried in various places in the desert or in a third country.

Nonetheless if one wanted to rely on the belief he had none, he may have not said he didn't have them in order to hurt US prestige and its position in the world when an invasion occurred. Whereas the US will have much more trouble getting support (even though it may seem now it has not lost most of its allies that it had when it went into Iraq) during a different war against a similar enemy because of skepticism (a similar country Saddam had favor with, such as Syria).
4 posted on 10/06/2004 5:17:34 PM PDT by yonif ("So perish all Thine enemies, O the Lord" - Judges 5:31)
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To: Howlin
If he didn't have WMD, why didn't he just say so?

Yes, that's the pregnant question isn't it. If Saddam had just fessed up, he would be sitting pretty now. Lots of palaces, lots of oil money, kill an Iraqi whenever the mood strikes, build some neato new WMDs for terrorist to use.

So why didn't Saddam just say to the UN inspectors -- come on down, inspect away. Maybe there is something we still don't know???

5 posted on 10/06/2004 5:20:57 PM PDT by snooker (French Fried Flip Flopper still Flouncing, be careful out there.)
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To: Ginifer

So did Saddam pass the Global Test?


6 posted on 10/06/2004 5:22:42 PM PDT by counterpunch (The CouNTeRPuNcH Collection - www.counterpunch.us)
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To: Ginifer
Saddam, it says, even fooled his own military chiefs into believing that he had WMD. This was designed to deter uprising from rebel Iraqis, on whom he deployed mustard gas in 1988, and aggressors in the Middle East.

I'm guessing it'll be a long time before any dictator tries this bluff again.

7 posted on 10/06/2004 5:26:04 PM PDT by PeoplesRepublicOfWashington
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To: Shermy

Kerry uses the UN to shield his pacifism on Iraq. Kerry & company are committed to the myth of multinationalism and its institutions and believe that US interests nearly always coincide with "multinational" interests.

If the Republicans don't start getting tough and exposing the UN myth, Bush & co. will lose.


8 posted on 10/06/2004 5:27:28 PM PDT by OXM_1962
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To: counterpunch; GailA; marron; quidnunc; Allan; Mitchell

LOL!

FYI, the contracts for future oil development are a huge multi-billion bribe of sorts beyond the Food For Oil scheme. FFO was peanuts in comparison.

I don't think Saddam had to bribe PM Chretien of Canada. Chretien was married into TotalFinaElf (now Total) via his daughter named "France." And his attitudes were naturally and reflexively anti-American in the first place. Unlike Chirac who probably would tilt whomever offered him the most cash.


9 posted on 10/06/2004 5:29:39 PM PDT by Shermy
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To: snooker
Rent the documentary "Uncle Saddam". It was done before the war...Everyone believed he had WMD's. I think his people convinced him that they had them.
10 posted on 10/06/2004 5:30:27 PM PDT by RS1990
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To: OXM_1962

"If the Republicans don't start getting tough and exposing the UN myth, Bush & co. will lose."

Well, they're starting now, I suppose.

The MSM has given Chirac a pass for the most part, adulation in many parts.


11 posted on 10/06/2004 5:31:26 PM PDT by Shermy
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To: Shermy

Senator Kerry, How was the United States supposed to include France in a global "coalition" against Saddam, with the legitimacy that you crave, when France's leaders were simultaneously taking bribes from Saddam Hussein?


12 posted on 10/06/2004 5:37:34 PM PDT by pushforbush
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To: Ginifer
MASTER LIST UN OIL/SEX FOR FOOD SCANDALS
13 posted on 10/06/2004 5:41:22 PM PDT by GailA ( hanoi john, I'm for the death penalty for terrorist, before I impose a moratorium on it.)
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To: Ginifer

>>>>>>>"France ..... granted oil contracts">>>>>>>

I know someone who works in a French Embassy and I was told this before the war started. Glad it is out now.


14 posted on 10/06/2004 5:43:16 PM PDT by Ditter
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To: Ginifer


15 posted on 10/06/2004 5:49:02 PM PDT by Chode (American Hedonist ©®)
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To: Howlin
If he didn't have WMD, why didn't he just say so?

This quote from the article explains why:

"Saddam, it says, even fooled his own military chiefs into believing that he had WMD. This was designed to deter uprising from rebel Iraqis, on whom he deployed mustard gas in 1988, and aggressors in the Middle East."

16 posted on 10/06/2004 5:55:24 PM PDT by LZ_Bayonet
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To: snooker
He couldn't permit inspections because his missile development program- which was very much active even as late as 2003 was a violation of UN resolutions. [Remember they built that large test stand for long range missile engines just before the war, the test stand we caught on satellite imagery?]It turned out his program was much further along than anyone suspected.

His drone development program was a violation of UN resolutions. He wouldn't want inspectors finding those or all the plans.

Having inspectors running about at will would mean those chiildren's prisons would eventually come to light no matter if Ritter mentioned them or not.

The Iraqi testing of biochem weapons on prisoners would be exposed.

The world would have found out about the murder of all those missing Kuwaitis that the UN resolutions demanded an accounting for. Since Iraq had murdered them and tested things on them it was hardly possible for Iraq to ever fufill those resolutions of which the return of the prisoners was an integral part.

The new facilities he was preparing underground at al Tawaitha would have been found.

He knew we would find out that he had sought uranium - yes, even in Niger just as Libya did- in order to begin the enrichment process as soon as backs were turned- and his French buddies sure as heck didn't want real inspections to resume because their role would be exposed.

Hussein knew that there was no legitimate means of satisfying the resolutions.

Now, what is sarin a WMD or not? And wasn't a binary shell full of Sarin found in Iraq when the "insurgents" tried to rig it as a conventional bomb? And wasn't that shell circa 1996? do people seriously believe there was only one such shell in all of Iraq?

And where exactly was the origin of the VX, etc, smuggled into Jordan that no one wants to talk about?

How to explain the ricin found in terrorist hands in Europe that matched what was found in Iraq?

How to explain the vials in the scientists' freezer?

And can there be a single bug left in Iraq with all that well-guarded pesticide lying about military bases and contaminating rivers?

What was the South African WMD cleanup team there in Iraq to do?

What was Castro talking about when he advised Hussein to destroy his WMD?

And what was the Iraqi in the tape Powell played talking about when he called a junior officer to inquire whether or not they had gotten rid of something so the UN inspectors wouldn't find it?

What could he say to the US to placate us about Capt. Speicher and the two American civilians he held captive and tortured that would make it OK for a President to just walk away?

You see, the UN resolutions and America's interest in them were about a great deal more than what was being stored in ready to use, off the shelf form. It was about precursors and accountability, about missing prisoners of war both civilian and military, Kuwaiti, Iranian, and even American, about unaccounted for scientists and materials, illegal purchases, networks of front companies, hidden laboratories, precious lab and production equipment that had to be accounted for and destroyed to be made "OK." and more...

Coming clean would have opened up a can of worms for Saddam-but more than that, it was too troublesome for the UN to even let him come clean if he wanted to. Their hands were soiled, as was most of the other nations in the world. The only hope of the UN was the balancing act of keeping Iraq from ever having to endure serious inspections with unhindered inspectors, while simultaneously preventing the US and UK and the Aussies and others from going to war and finding out the truth- that Saddam may have been an evil beast but Old Europe managed the fighting pit and let him kill and breed for the prize money he would win.

17 posted on 10/06/2004 6:11:36 PM PDT by piasa (Attitude Adjustments Offered Here Free of Charge)
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To: piasa
You make some good points. Good memory.

Saddam was laying off mixing up the actual chemical WMDs and building dual use facilities, delivery vehicles and warheads instead. Very interesting observations. Quite possibly that is what was going on. Saddam was waiting for the UN to leave then he had all the parts, the vehicles, the warheads, all he needed was the WMD materials for the warheads. The facilities were there, just start the production lines rolling. According to the CIA brief all he needed was another 6 months and the completed chemical weapons material would be ready.

I believe you are on to something.
18 posted on 10/06/2004 6:19:51 PM PDT by snooker (French Fried Flip Flopper still Flouncing, be careful out there.)
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To: Howlin
If there's no WMD [as in programs], why assassinate the scientists? Even AFTER the war?

Who did it? Unusually loyal Baathists... or Old Europe and others who might not want their supplier roles revealed?

19 posted on 10/06/2004 6:22:53 PM PDT by piasa (Attitude Adjustments Offered Here Free of Charge)
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To: snooker
The Qadeer Khan network still hangs like a sword over the press's heads, yet they act like they can't see how far that reached.

The missile program should give the world pause- Hussein didn't need long range missiles just to hit Israel.

20 posted on 10/06/2004 6:28:22 PM PDT by piasa (Attitude Adjustments Offered Here Free of Charge)
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