The Inevitable War Against Iraq

Myself | 22:45GMT 15th March 2002 | Myself

[mamelukesabre]

What happened to the muslim terrorist activities going on in the horn-of-africa region? You know, somalia, ethiopia, etc. I thought we were going in there to mop up the bin-laudin-type groups operating there. It seems to me that this region would have priority over saddam insane. Iraq is a separate issue. Surely there are many good christian ethiopians that could be recruited to help us in this region.

[crystalk]

Very poor false equalization. Not the same God...Not the same faith...like saying an oxcart and a Porsche are both vehicles.

[Kevin Curry]

I have my own set of ideologies I follow.

Why don't you find your own island, declare yourself king, pass a law, break it, and imprison yourself?

Go now.

[RightWhale]

You people, the patriots in the US, and the Fundamentalist Muslim groups, are one and the same.

Watch some more John Wayne movies. Read some more Zane Gray. Dig a little deeper. Superficialities are a starting point, not the end, not the summation.

[crystalk]

No, that region lacks oil and has little education and economic potential. Saddam is a hundred times the risk to the USA, and a THOUSAND times the risk in the next 2-3 yrs, that the Horn of Africa could ever be...

[TigerLikesRooster]

Re #7

So what are you going to do if Saddam launches two dozen scuds tipped with chemical warhead or several hundreds American soldiers are killed by same missiles ? American military does not have depth it had during Gulf war. And this time Saddam will not restrain himself, because as pointed out, he has nothing to lose. If you have better alternative, let me know.

[Kevin Curry]

You really think that a people who are obsessed with religion

Not so long ago there was a nation obsessed with atheism. It murder--er, I mean liquidated--over 20 million of its own citizens.

Go ahead. Keep ragging on religious believers. They were the first to be liquidated.

[Governor StrangeReno]

the man might be nostalgic remembering the broom they gave him at the train station with the intruction stand here for 40 years,food and a roof in exchange-items many currently don't have.

[In veno, veritas]

I don't like it at all. Jordan, I think, could very easily be on our side. Our relations have improved due to their own Palestinian problem in the '70s. I hate to have an outright invasion of a country because they pose a threat. IMHO we should practice the MAD theory, only that Saddam should know that he cannot assure our destruction, therefore we wait for his strike to assure his. We should only seek peace, but be ready for war when it comes.

[mamelukesabre]

What difference does the value of the resources matter? If we don't go after Al-qaeda wherever they run, we will never wipe them out. They will just hide out in the horn or indonesia untill they rebuild their strength and then strike again. We gotta finish the job now or the problem will come back later just like saddam did.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Re #3

I don't think that they will be a World War. As I recall, Russia changed its battle doctrine to have first use of nukes during Kosovo crisis. America changed its own not long ago. So both country can use battlefield nukes. I was talking about responding to Saddam's WMD. WMD can be responded by WMD. If you got attacked by chemical weapons and lose a lot of casualties, you cannot go on shooting bullets and bombing buildings. As I recall, the last nukes ended the world war not started it. Appeasement of Hitler started the last world war. So it is not clear-cut as you think.

[mrsmith]

I don't think you should rule out a "whack-a-saddam" strategy.

Take control of the air, use some search forces and other means to locate him, and depend on the various new missile defense weapons to counter the wmd threat.

[browardchad]

Good try, but Iraq is not a separate issue. Hussein is at this moment capable of making the Israel/Palestinian violence look like intramural basketball games, and he's hoping for just a little more time until he can deliver them long-distance. True, he doesn't give a hoot about Islam, but he sure would like to settle the score against the U.S., in a more spectacular way than he's tried in the past.

[TigerLikesRooster]

RE #8

I am aware of Kurd vs Tukey situation and Kurd's feeling of being abandoned after the gulf war. But Kurd have to be in the equation, I think. So U.S. will push all buttons to enlist Kurds. Turkey was bought last fall by U.S. There was a state visit by Turkish President which brought hundreds of businessmen as entourage. Apparently they all got their wish. I know this is not an easy problem. But it has to be worked out. Politically, it is always much better to have inside help rather than outright invasion.

[crystalk]

Not disagreeing that the individual baddies should be hunted down, but when a State is developing weapons of mass destruction, that becomes a higher priority. Do both, I say.

[Hugin]

Pretty good analisys, except that the Brits will be with us. Blaid will insist, and the only option for the Labour antis would be a vote of no confidence, which would dissolve the Labour government. They will complain but in the end Blair will get his way.

[mamelukesabre]

What do you mean "not a separate issue". It most certainly is a separate issue. I'm not saying that we shouldn't do anything about saddam, only that we should take care of what we already started with al-qaeda first(or at least concurrently). Saddam may be a greater threat, but only because we have al-qaeda on the run at the moment. Why should we not take the opportunity to finish them off now while we can? Al-qaeda will only come back later just as saddam has if we let them continue.

[Alexandre]

You should read what your General Secretary said about your ideology the other day, comrade.

Do you use the Dr.Goebels argument on every German who has guts to disagree with you?

Genaral Secretary said the other day. That day is gone, so the Genaral Secretary with HIS ideology.

Check your calendar.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Re #38

Well, you can see this problem from a different angle. That is, it all comes down to (1)weapon and (2) money. If we can deprive both to terrorists, we have a great head start. Yes, organization is still there which will be taken out one by one. But if money goes and weapon goes, they are so busy making ends meet that they may not have time for terrorism. To deprive (1), Iraq has to go because Iraq has many WMD to share with terrorists. To deprive (2), we encourage Russia to boost its oil production, lowering oil prices and bankrupting Saudi and other Gulf states. So Iraq is eminently relevant as well as Saudi.