namkcuR said:
The UN gave him one last chance to comply. They never said whether or not he did or didn't oblige on that last chance. They didn't have the chance. Bush gave his orders before the UN had the chance. And the weapons inspectors never got to give the final report they wanted to, they didn't get to finish their job.
Everything that had been said about Saddam prior to the invasion was being said for a decade before, and Saddam never used the WMDS people claim he had to produce a mass murder. If he had used them to produce a mass murder of the apocylptic levels you speak of, the whole world would have known about it, it would have been all over the news.
My feeling would be different if there had been conclusive pictures or video clips of these WMDs that Bush and the CIA were SO sure he had, or if anyone in Iraq were to gave conclusive indication that there were WMDS hidden. But there was no hard proof. We invaded on a hunch we were 90-95% sure of. You know what the great thing about the armed forces is(as much as I disagree with a lot of their idealogy)? It's that they're willing to make the ultimate sacerfice for their country. All that they ask in exchange is that we don't send them into that situation unless it is ABSOLUTELY NECCESSARY. Re-read those words, let them sink in. We betrayed that trust. Perhaps it was poorly worded when I said the war was a waste of time, for I don't claim that Saddam was a good guy by any stretch of the imagination, but he was NOT the threat Bush and Co. would have you think. The war was not ABSOLUTELY NECCESSARY. And when 1000+ soldiers are gonna die, it better be. It's not right the way all those women and children and so forth in Iraq were treated by Saddam and his people it's not, nor is it right that 1.7 million people were killed. I don't argue that. But it's not the business of the US to intervene. It's the business of the UN, and by the UN, it was illegal, and that was stated by its secretary general himself, a guy who I already trusted much more than I ever trusted Bush, and that feeling has only been re-enforced. Perhaps had Bush been a little more patient, the UN would've given the green light and we wouldn't be having this debate.
You know what else is frustrating? When people seem to be blind to all the dishonestly, lying, and secrecy that has been with this administration from the start. You know what they say, love is blind.
There is nothing in resolution 1441 that stated that another resolution was required. It specifically re-affirmed prior resolutions that authorized the use of military force if Saddam was not in compliance and once again said that Saddam would face Serious Consequences if he did not comply! When inspectors were let back into the country and Saddam did not account for the stocks of WMD, war automatically became authorized. The decision was left to Saddam to decide if there would be war or not, and he decided on war. The Weapons inspectors cannot give a final report when Saddam did not do what he was required to do. The United States was the author of the resolution and the rest of the security council approved it!
Saddam murdered thousands of people in Iraq and Iran with WMD. It was all over the news. Look up what was done to Kurdish civilians in 1988. A Town of 5,000 was murdered one morning in 1988. Iranian troops got hit with thousands of chemical filled artillery shells. No other leader has used WMD more times than Saddam. He even attempted to potentially use WMD in the first Gulf War by positioning thousands of stocks near the Iraqi/Kuwaiti border for Republican Guard use. Luckily, these stocks were destroyed by Allied airpower or overrun before they could be used.
After Saddam's defeat in the first Gulf War in 1991, he began to cooperate in disarmament. He did cooperate in the dismantling of large stocks of WMD from 1991-1998, while at the same time, increasingly began to hide things and stop UN inspectors from inspecting many things. Iraqi military personal would block the UN inspectors from going into buildings, while other Iraqi military personal would be in the back loading equipment on to trucks and would move the entire contents of the building some where else. Then the UN inspectors would be allowed to inspect essentially an empty building.
In November of 1998 when UN inspectors were forced out of the country and not allowed to return, Saddam according to UN inspectors had not accounted for and verifiably disarmed of over 1,000 Stocks of Anthrax, 500 pounds of Mustard Gas, 500 pounds of Sarin Gas and over 20,000 Bio/Chem capable shells just to name a few of the things.
In November of 2002 when inspectors were let back into the country, Saddam claimed that he destroyed the above stocks but showed no evidence to prove that he had. Failure to show where the stocks were or where they were dismantled if that in fact happened were total violations of the 1991 Gulf War Ceacefire agreement which authorized renewed military action if Saddam failed to meet his obligations.
The criteria for whether war was necessary in Iraq or not was VERIFIABLE DISARMAMENT! Let me say that again, VERIFIABLE DISARMAMENT. That is what the UN resolutions and Gulf War Ceacefire agreement call for. It was a ABSOLUTELY NECCESSARY that SADDAM VERIFIABLY DISARM of all WMD.
Why did the UN in 1991 say that it was ABSOLUTELY NECCESSARY that Saddam verifiably disarm of all WMD. Well lets see, Saddam invaded and attacked FOUR different countries in the space of 10 years! He threatened the entire planets ENERGY SUPPLIES with seizure and sabotage. No big deal you say? The sudden loss of energy supplies from the Persian Gulf would create an economic depression that potentially would be impossible to recover from. Over 50% unemployment in the rich countries of the world and the total end of any foreign aid to Africa or other poor countries as the planets richest countries get crushed and forced into poverty with all of its troubling effects. Saddam used WMD more times than any other leader in history! His behavior showed a total lack of rational thought and disregard for his countries survival. He was willing to nearly risk everything on absurd and crazy dreams of power. Miscaculation after Miscaculation. In the process of all this, he murdered 1.7 million people collectively from several countries.
That is why the UN made it an absolute requirement that Saddam VERIFIABLY DISARM of all WMD or face renewed military action. It would have been stupid to require a man like Saddam to Verifiably Disarm but have no effective means to enforce the issue if he refused which he eventually did. The Enforcement of UN resolutions in regards to Saddam's violations was long overdue.
Mr. Annan has a right to his opinion, but he does not have a vote on the Security Council nor does he decide what is or is not legal. The UN has NEVER published any Document showing that the war in Iraq is illegal! NEVER! Let that sink in. Let it all sink in that the UN in resolutions 678, 687, and 1441 approved of the use of military force in against Saddam if he failed to meet his obligations. Name one resolution that Saddam complied with after 12 years!?
If the war was illegal as Mr. Annan claims, why has the UN passed three different resolutions approving the occupation of Iraq? In 1991 when Saddam invaded Kuwait, the UN immediately put forth and passed a resolutions condemning that invasions! Where is the UN resolution that condemns the current invasion? Please tell me! Where is the UN resolution that calls for the withdrawal of US and coalition troops?
Bottom line, the UN would never authorize an occupation that it felt was illegal. In the case of Iraq, starting with resolution 1483, the United Nations has approved of the occupation of Iraq and has actively worked with the coalition in the occupation. If the occupation was illegal as you claim, the UN would not have anything to do with it and would be condemning and calling for the withdrawal of coalition troops just as they did to Saddam over his invasion of Kuwait in 1990!
What is frustrating is when people throw around terms like LIE and DISHONESTY when in fact there is no evidence that any of that has happened. It is frustrating when people get their idea's from a man like Michael Moore and decide to qoute him as well. But let me qoute a best friend currently serving his SECOND tour of duty in Iraq on his opinion of Michael Moore's film: " The movie was written at the intellectual level of a 2nd grader and the claims he makes are not only false, but preposterous."
