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To: Dog Gone
The Middle East will be split into an inarticulate group, which will be weighing relief from radical pressures authored by Baghdad against the rising dangers from the local Arab street, and radical Islamists, already enraged by the American presence in the region.

What does "radical pressures authored by Baghdad" mean?

As far as I can tell, no country in the Middle East other than Israel actually fears Iraq. Iran fought Iraq to a draw back in the '80s, when Iraq was supported by the Reagan administration. Kuwait is now well protected by US and UK forces. Saudi Arabia has sufficient air power to demolish any Iraqi attack. Syria has had friendly relations with Iraq, a similar Baathist tradition, and roughly equivalent military power. Turkey has greater military power. Jordan, like Kuwait is still functionally a UK/US protectorate.

8 posted on 08/11/2002 10:15:13 AM PDT by Lessismore
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To: Lessismore
I don't think the Gulf states fear an imminent attack from Saddam, at least as long as we have a military presence in the area. However, he is expanionist and he's fought his neighbors to the east and south. He's no friend to any of the rulers of those nations.

They can't be terribly pleased that Saddam is building nukes, as well as chemical and bio weapons. His wanton destruction of the Kuwaiti oilfields upon withdrawing from Kuwait demonstrate a willingness to destroy for destruction's sake.

Saddam's weapons may be meant only for Israel, but nobody can be sure that some won't find its way into the radical terrorist organizations. In reality, there is nothing good that come out of Iraq's efforts to perfect weapons of mass destruction, even for Saudi Arabia.

The only reason we have a presence in the Middle East is because of Iraq. We weren't there to any extent before the Gulf War. Containment, as a strategy, has been successful in terms of protecting the region from Saddam so far, but it has been a total failure in terms of preventing the creation of WMD.

Why does Saddam want them so badly if he doesn't intend on using them for leverage, at a minimum, and to destroy entire populations, at worst?

9 posted on 08/11/2002 10:43:47 AM PDT by Dog Gone
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