Posted on 01/29/2003 4:38:05 AM PST by conservativecorner
THE term "smoking gun" is one of the more ridiculous phrases to have emerged from the recent argument over intervention against Saddam Hussein.
It is an expression originally evolved from corruption or deceit in American politics, which means evidence of a crime.
There is, people lazily say, "no smoking gun" in the material presented to the United Nations by the Blix inspection team.
The expression is absurd in two ways. First, Saddam Hussein has already been caught red-handed, several times, employing weapons of mass destruction.
His deputy, Tariq Aziz, recently admitted Iraq showered chemical poison on the city of Halabja and Iraqi generals were also good enough to admit how close they were to building a nuclear weapon by the time of the last Gulf War.
Second, the mandate of the UN resolution does not require Mr Blix to flourish a "smoking gun".
Instead, the resolution states with unmistakable clarity that it is up to Iraq to comply fully with the treaties it has signed.
The inspection system is supposed to monitor that compliance, not investigate breaches. And it works well: checking past declarations against present reality.
That is how the North Koreans were recently caught red-handed, re-deploying previously declared rods of uranium from inactive to active modes.
IT is already plain that Saddam Hussein's regime has put itself in material breach of the relevant UN resolution.
And it is material breach, not a "smoking gun", that has to be demonstrated. Just look at the actual materials.
Mr Blix - who has a reputation as a softie when it comes to inspections - reports that an impressive number of chemical-weapon warheads are missing.
Other germ-warfare and nerve-gas agents, and their delivery systems, are also unaccounted for.
This is a matter of simple arithmetic, checking what can be found against Saddam's original inventory. More inspections and more time would disclose nothing except more of the same.
The paper presented by Iraq on the occasion of the last deadline now proves to have been nothing more than a trash-pile of evasions and deceptions, designed to run out the clock. But who could possibly argue that the Iraqi authorities allowed unfettered access to scientists and technicians, as required by the resolution?
In Sunday's New York Times, John Burns told how Iraqi guides shook with fear when even humble reporters asked unauthorised questions. These poor goons knew that they and their families would take days to die if they offended the leader even in a minor detail.
Picture, then, the kind of pressure that is exerted on scientists and technicians who possess hard information.
Once again, though, we do not need to rely on guesswork either.
A steady number of defectors, including the nuclear physicist Dr Khidir Hamza, have escaped from Baghdad and given a fairly comprehensive blueprint of the war designs of Saddam Hussein. Once inspections had begun, it was inevitable that holes would open up in the "full disclosure" presented by his underlings.
I am impressed only by the sheer crudity of their effort, and by the speed with which it has crumbled.
ANYONE who repeats the mantra about "more time for the inspections" should be aware of exactly what they are demanding.
With the sanctions system falling apart, and illegal trading growing apace, all goods entering or leaving Iraq yield a percentage pay-off to Saddam.
With this trove of money, they can still hope to go back to the underworld market and shop around for more deadly materials.
Meanwhile, the unbearable suffering of the Iraqi and Kurdish peoples is protracted needlessly.
In order to have a complete disclosure of Iraq's capabilities, one would have to actually be the government of Iraq.
People who claim to know Iraq poses no threat are claiming either to be in the confidence of Saddam's regime, or else claiming to know more than anybody could know.
But why not accept the logic of the argument? A day will come when all the sites will be open and all the documents published.
On that day, the inspectors will have "completed their job".
In other words, the demand for a full inspection is another way of calling for a regime change, which for many other reasons is already long overdue.
Christopher Hitchens is a columnist for Vanity Fair.
WorldNetDaily.com: "NEW EVIDENCE LINKS SADDAM, BIN LADEN" (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Unit 999 of Iraqi intelligence has helped train both Arafat's shock troops and bin Laden's Islamists for suicide operations utilizing weapons of mass destruction. According to Bodansky's book, some of these terrorists have already "succeeded in infiltrating several Arab countries. They are provided with instructions, secret codes and advanced weapons." According to Israeli sources, the Iraqis permitted the terrorist trainees to test chemical weapons in southern Kurdistan.") (120902)
***News.TELEGRAPH.co.uk: "CHEMICAL WAR THREAT BY IRAQ'S 'TALIBAN'" (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Mullah Mohammad Hasan is the new leader of Ansar Al-Islam, a radical Taliban-style mini-state in Northern Iraq where ricin and other chemical agents have been been tested as potential weapons. He has vowed to use his arsenal to fight America and its allies if a war is launched against Saddam Hussein. Ansar has also given shelter to Abu Musaab al-Zarqawi - the al-Qaeda quartermaster responsible for planning the terrorist group's attacks - in its camps, according to Kurdish officials in the area. The group has told recent visitors to its enclave that it holds stocks of the deadly chemical agents ricin, cyanide gas and aflatoxin.") (January 12, 2003)
stepping back in time...CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR: "TALIBAN-STYLE GROUP GROWS IN IRAQ" (ARTICLE SNIPPETS: "HALABJA, NORTHERN IRAQ - A radical Islamist group - with possible links to Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein - is growing and threatening the stability of the Kurdish region in northern Iraq."..."Since, Ansar al-Islam has nearly doubled in size to 700, including Iraqis, Jordanians, Moroccans, Palestinians, and Afghans - a composition similar to the multinational Al Qaeda network. Villagers here claim it has ransacked and razed beauty salons, burned schools for girls, and murdered women in the streets for refusing to wear the burqa. It has seized a Taliban-style enclave of 4,000 civilians and several villages near the Iran border.") (March 15, 2002)
***BBC NEWS: "NEW IRAQ DOCUMENT FIND ALARMS UN" (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "The head of the United Nations atomic agency has voiced concern about documents apparently relating to nuclear technology which were found in an Iraqi scientist's home. The documents, numbering 3,000 pages, appear to focus on laser enrichment - a way to modify uranium for use in nuclear weapons - and were taken from the home of physicist Faleh Hassan on Thursday.") (011803)
stepping back in time..."IRAQ REPORT, SEPTEMBER 7, 2001, VOLUME 9, NUMBER 28: ARTICLE SNIPPET: "IRAQI CHEMICAL WEAPONS BUILDUP REPORTED. The "Sunday Telegraph" of 2 September reported that at least 20 specially trained Iraqi soldiers are dead and up to 200 have been hospitalized after taking part in a chemical weapon exercise that went wrong. News of the accident emerged last week amid concerns that Saddam Husseyn has rebuilt his chemical weapons arsenal. Intelligence sources reported that the soldiers were based in the Za'farniya region south of Baghdad. A diplomat said that they were training in the Al-Suwayra and Basmaya camps three months ago. After the accident, new soldiers were brought in. In the past three months, eight military factories have been working at almost full strength. The "Sunday Telegraph" says that the most significant of them in the unpopulated Syrian border area of Al-Qayem is said to be building chemical weapons and missiles. According to a Western military observer, "the Al-Qayem base has only recently expanded It just passed under the control of Saddam's son and heir Qusay." There is also evidence that Saddam's most sophisticated Chinese-built radar tracking systems are back to strength." (David Nissman)
IRAQ REPORT: "CZECH MILITARY REPORTS SAY IRAQ HAS SMALLPOX VIRUS IN WEAPONS STOCKPILE." (REPORT SNIPPET: "High-ranking Czech officers cited by dpa on 15 January said President Hussein "very likely" possesses a dangerous strain of the smallpox virus as part of his biological-weapons stockpile. Military health-service chief Jan Petras said Iraq has a strain called Aralsk 1970, originally developed in the former Soviet Union. Petras also said it is "almost certain" that Iraq's stockpile includes a weapon-modified form of an animal disease called camelpox. He also said former Soviet biological scientists might currently be working in Iraq.") (Michael Shafir)
WASHINGTON TIMES.com - Opinion Editorial: "OUT OF THE VIAL" (OPINION EDITORIAL SNIPPET: "Two recent revelations argue that they also appear to be acting appropriately. The first was a CIA intelligence assessment, which adduced that four nations - Russia, North Korea, Iraq and France - almost certainly possess secret stocks of the smallpox virus. A second, unrelated disclosure revealed that Osama bin Laden dedicated money and personnel resources to procuring stocks of numerous biological and chemical agents, including smallpox.") (111402)
***ALBAWABA.com: "THE IRAQI WOMAN BUSH WANTS TO LAY HIS HANDS ON" (ARTICLE NOTE: Dr. Rihab Tahat is known as "Dr. Germ.") (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "In Dr. Germ's highly secret laboratories, Taha and her team of some 100 Iraqi scientists worked immensely to weaponize the most lethal viruses and bacteria known to man. According to United Nations estimates, Taha created 8400 liters of anthrax"..."grew 19,000 liters of botulinum"..."She also cultivated 2000 liters of aflatoxin"..."These experiments may have never come to light if it were not for the defection of General Hussein Kamal, son-in-law of Saddam Hussein and a weapons of mass destruction expert. In 1995, Kamal defected from Iraq to Jordan where he told the world about Dr. Germ, thus making him the first to expose Taha's work and the killer diseases that Iraq holds in reserve."..."The original UN weapons inspectors tried to find out where Iraq's biological weapons were and destroy them, but failed. Eventually, UN inspectors found out that Dr. Germ was the lover and wife of Lieutenant General Amer Rashid, the Iraqi official whose job was to work with the UN inspectors. It is now believed Rashid warned his wife of possible raids, thus giving her enough time to get rid of any evidence. Until recently, Rashid served as the oil minister in Saddam Hussein's government."(January 14, 2003)
WASHINGTON TIMES.com (AP): "IRAQ TAKES DELIVERY OF POWDER USED IN CHEMICAL ARMS" (ARTICLES SNIPPETS: "Iraqi scientists know how to make chemical weapons that can penetrate military protective clothing, and Iraq imported up to 25 metric tons last month of a powder that is a crucial ingredient to such "dusty" weapons. Iraq told the United Nations the powder was destined for a pharmaceutical company."..."The powder, sold under the brand name Aerosil...") (111802)
TIMES ONLINE.co.uk: "SADDAM PAYS GADDAFI $3 BILLION TO GIVE HIS FAMILY SAFE HAVEN IN LIBYA" (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Word of Saddam's deal with the Libyan leader has emerged from diplomatic sources in Tripoli following a visit to the Libyan capital on September 8 by General Ali Hasan al-Majid, a cousin and trusted member of Saddam's clan. General al-Majid is known by the Kurds of northern Iraq as "Chemical Ali" because he was in charge of the Iraqi forces which launched a chemical weapons attack on the Kurdish town of Halabja in 1988. He was also initially the "Governor" of Kuwait after Iraq's invasion of the Gulf state in August 1990, and is now one of the Baath Party regional command leaders. He is believed to have travelled to Tripoli to deliver a personal missive from Saddam to the Libyan leader, confirming the arrangements for his family.") (111602)
FOX NEWS.com: "IRAQ STOCKPILING GAS ANTIDOTE" (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "The fate of 31,600 chemical munitions, 550 mustard gas bombs and 4,000 tons of chemical precursors remain unknown, according to Congressional Research Services. In fact, the primary remaining chemical weapons questions center on the VX nerve agent, which atropine can be used to counter. By 1995, UNSCOM uncovered enough evidence to force Iraq to admit to producing about 4 tons of VX, but UNSCOM thought the country had imported enough material to actually produce 200 tons of VX, according to CRS.") (111202)
***MEMRI.org - MIDDLE EAST MEDIA RESEARCH INSTITUTE: "EDITOR OF IRANIAN CONSERVATIVE GOVERNMENT DAILY ATTACKS PRESIDENT BUSH AND CALLS ON MUSLIM YOUTH TO LAUNCH MARTYRDOM OPERATIONS AGAINST THE U.S." (ARTICLE NOTE: The editor is identified as Hussain Shariatmadari.) (NOTE: "Martyrdom" is also known as "Shehada.") (012303)
***AFTENPOSTEN.no: "USA WANTS NORWAY TO WATCH KREKAR" (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Mullah Krekar has been, and likely remains, the leader of Ansar al-Islam, a fringe Islamic group in Iranian Kurdistan accused of having connections to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist network. The New York Times reported the connection last week after interviews with Ansa al-Islam members, and after finding documents in Afghanistan mentioning direct links to al-Qaeda.") (January 17, 2003)
BBC NEWS: "'MAJOR AL-QAEDA ATTACK FOILED'" (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Mr Aznar, speaking in the north-western city of La Coruna, said those arrested had links to Algerian militant groups. "[The police] have broken up a major terrorist network... linked in this case to the Algerian Salafist group, a splinter of the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), which has clear connections with the criminal organisation of Bin Laden," he said. Interior Minister Angel Acebes said suspicious resins, fuels and other chemicals were being examined, along with electronic equipment, detonators and remote controls for use in bomb-making. Mr Acebes said the suspects were divided into two groups, both led by Algerians. A suspect named as Mohamad Tahraqui was said to be in charge of the Barcelona-based group, while the other operated out of Banolas in neighbouring Gerona province under the leadership of a man named as Bard Eddin Ferdji." (012403)
FOX NEWS.com (AP: "SIXTEEN AL QAIDA SUSPECTS ARRESTED IN SPAIN" (ARTICLE SNIPPET: (012403)
HAARETZ DAILY.com: "REPORT: SADDAM PLANNED TO USE BIOLOGICAL WEAPON AGAINST ISRAEL" (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "The document says that Iraq sent three MiG-21 planes to bomb Israeli targets with regular bombs to check whether they were able to penetrate the Israeli air defense system. At the second stage, three more MiGs armed with conventional weaponry were to be sent to Israel as a diversion, together with a Sukhoi airplane armed with biological weapons. But the operation failed during the first stage, when the three MiGs were downed over the Persian Gulf a short time after takeoff.") (122302)
TALIBAN ONLINE: "TALIBAN CLAIMS TO HAVE CHEMICAL WEAPONS...Hekmatyar Joins Hands With Omar" -Taliban Online via UmmahNews) (January 5, 2003)
***www.JANG.com.pk - THE NEWS International: "TALIBAN POSSESS CHEMICAL WEAPONS: EX-LEADER" (010403)
***MILITARES DEMOCRATICOS.com: "BIO-WEAPONS LAB IN VENEZUELA FOR SADDAM AND CASTRO" (December 19, 2002)
MILITARES DEMOCRATICOS.com: "BRAZILIAN PLOTTER BUYS TIME FOR CHAVEZ, HAS LINKS TO TERRORISTS AND SADDAM" by Johan Freitas, in Caracas (December 28, 2003)
An Informative Discussion on FREEREPUBLIC.com regarding this article on www.MilitaresDemocraticos.com by Johan Freitas, in Caracas, with Luis Garcia, in Miami: "9-11: CHAVEZ FINANCED AL QAEDA, DETAILS OF $1M DONATION EMERGE" (123102)
***ISLAM-ONLINE.net: "MULLAH OMAR URGES JIHAD AGAINST U.S. WAR ON IRAQ" by Hasbanullah Mutawakel, IOL Correspondent (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Peshawar, December 18 (IslamOnline) - Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar exhorted Muslims on Tuesday, December 17, to prepare for Jihad against the United States if it unleashes a military offensive against Iraq. In a statement published in the Pakistani Mashraq newspaper, Mullah Omar stressed it was time for the Islamic nation to stand in the face of world atheism and to attack American interests worldwide.") (121802)
While I agree with the general premise, I doubt Jordan is a problem. Our military presence in that country is not trivial and it is growing by the minute. As far as Jordan is concerned, this is not a redo of their position in 1990.
It is an expression originally evolved from corruption or deceit in American politics, which means evidence of a crime.
I'll stipulate to that, but then he says:
The expression is absurd in two ways. First, Saddam Hussein has already been caught red-handed
What does Hitchens think this expression means, if not evidence of a crime?
Is he saying that Saddam is more of a stabber than a shooter?
Take that Susan "Surrender" Sarandon !!!
A smoking gun is evidence of a crime having been committed.
Sadaam has been caught red-handed and there is more than just evidence, there is proof of a crime.
Why would some idiot say we haven't found a smoking gun if we got the bullet-ridden bodies for proof?
He was making our case to not waste any more time...
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