Bush says, "End Sanctions . . . What WMD?" (paraphrase)

[BaliBabyDoc]

Yahoo

"Now that Iraq is liberated the United Nations should lift economic sanctions on that country," Bush told about 1,000 workers in an often politically flavored speech at a Boeing jet fighter plant.


At the United Nations, diplomats said that an end to sanctions should depend on the world body certifying that Iraq is free of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, one of the reasons Washington gave for the war.

The diplomats hinted that the key to lifting sanctions might depend on a U.S. willingness to readmit U.N. arms inspectors. Under existing council resolutions, before the sanctions can be lifted, U.N. inspectors must certify that Iraq is free of all weapons of mass destruction.


The United States has so far resisted opening the door to a return of the inspectors who were pulled out shortly before the war started. But other council members say letting the United States pursue the inspection process would lack credibility in the international community.

Why would we not want more help in finding chem/bio in Iraq?

 

[Moonbeam]

What if they didn't find any?

 

[UltraQuiet]

I'm not clear if they are saying they don't want arms inspectors period or if they are saying we don't arms inspectors if that means you aren't going to lift sanctions until they certify that Iraq is WMD free.

If they agree to lift sanctions next week and the US still doesn't want arms inspectors, w/o any ties to the sanctions, then that would be a little strange.

 

[BaliBabyDoc]

UN inspectors are inept . . . we wouldn't expect them to find any. But in accordance with French, Russian, and German requests they are free to look as long as they like . . . which should be good enough for Bush to say, "there's WMD there . . . well it used to be there b/c we know it was there . . . somewhere . . . but now it is in Syria . . . somewhere."

 

[charrison]

Originally posted by: BaliBabyDoc
Yahoo

"Now that Iraq is liberated the United Nations should lift economic sanctions on that country," Bush told about 1,000 workers in an often politically flavored speech at a Boeing jet fighter plant.


At the United Nations, diplomats said that an end to sanctions should depend on the world body certifying that Iraq is free of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, one of the reasons Washington gave for the war.

The diplomats hinted that the key to lifting sanctions might depend on a U.S. willingness to readmit U.N. arms inspectors. Under existing council resolutions, before the sanctions can be lifted, U.N. inspectors must certify that Iraq is free of all weapons of mass destruction.


The United States has so far resisted opening the door to a return of the inspectors who were pulled out shortly before the war started. But other council members say letting the United States pursue the inspection process would lack credibility in the international community.

Why would we not want more help in finding chem/bio in Iraq?

1. It is time for the sanctions to stop. The goverment that sanctions were put upon, no longer exists. Sanctions serve no purpose at this point.

2. The UN was given 12 years to find WMD and the US has only been given 3 weeks and they are still having people shoot at them. Have any UN inspectors volunteered to return while there is still a war going on?

3. In the past 3 weeks, the US has already found things that the UN could not and are openly able to interview people the UN has not been able to. Give our inspectors a few more weeks.

 

[SnapIT]

Hundreds of thousands of soldiers have roamed the land and found nothing, why, the US had clear intelligence that told them EXACTLY where they were, sure, they presented their "evidence" to the UN and got ridiculed in th process, but they knew where to find the "real" WMD's..

Obviously they did not, and yet again, the US will be ridiculed on the international arena...

Nice job guys.... LMAO!

 

[SnapIT]

Originally posted by: charrison

Originally posted by: BaliBabyDoc
Yahoo

"Now that Iraq is liberated the United Nations should lift economic sanctions on that country," Bush told about 1,000 workers in an often politically flavored speech at a Boeing jet fighter plant.


At the United Nations, diplomats said that an end to sanctions should depend on the world body certifying that Iraq is free of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, one of the reasons Washington gave for the war.

The diplomats hinted that the key to lifting sanctions might depend on a U.S. willingness to readmit U.N. arms inspectors. Under existing council resolutions, before the sanctions can be lifted, U.N. inspectors must certify that Iraq is free of all weapons of mass destruction.


The United States has so far resisted opening the door to a return of the inspectors who were pulled out shortly before the war started. But other council members say letting the United States pursue the inspection process would lack credibility in the international community.

Why would we not want more help in finding chem/bio in Iraq?

1. It is time for the sanctions to stop. The goverment that sanctions were put upon, no longer exists. Sanctions serve no purpose at this point.

2. The UN was given 12 years to find WMD and the US has only been given 3 weeks and they are still having people shoot at them. Have any UN inspectors volunteered to return while there is still a war going on?

3. In the past 3 weeks, the US has already found things that the UN could not and are openly able to interview people the UN has not been able to. Give our inspectors a few more weeks.

What about the WMD's that needed to be destroyed, are they now forgotten?

I mean, they were so easy to find for the UN, why not for the US with a force that can go anywhere and is not limited to a couple of hundred men?

 

[UltraQuiet]

Originally posted by: SnapIT
Hundreds of thousands of soldiers have roamed the land and found nothing, why, the US had clear intelligence that told them EXACTLY where they were, sure, they presented their "evidence" to the UN and got ridiculed in th process, but they knew where to find the "real" WMD's..

Obviously they did not, and yet again, the US will be ridiculed on the international arena...

Nice job guys.... LMAO!

Hundreds of thousands have not "roamed the land and found nothing,". A small fraction of that, maybe.

 

[charrison]

Originally posted by: SnapIT

Originally posted by: charrison

Originally posted by: BaliBabyDoc
Yahoo

"Now that Iraq is liberated the United Nations should lift economic sanctions on that country," Bush told about 1,000 workers in an often politically flavored speech at a Boeing jet fighter plant.


At the United Nations, diplomats said that an end to sanctions should depend on the world body certifying that Iraq is free of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, one of the reasons Washington gave for the war.

The diplomats hinted that the key to lifting sanctions might depend on a U.S. willingness to readmit U.N. arms inspectors. Under existing council resolutions, before the sanctions can be lifted, U.N. inspectors must certify that Iraq is free of all weapons of mass destruction.


The United States has so far resisted opening the door to a return of the inspectors who were pulled out shortly before the war started. But other council members say letting the United States pursue the inspection process would lack credibility in the international community.

Why would we not want more help in finding chem/bio in Iraq?

1. It is time for the sanctions to stop. The goverment that sanctions were put upon, no longer exists. Sanctions serve no purpose at this point.

2. The UN was given 12 years to find WMD and the US has only been given 3 weeks and they are still having people shoot at them. Have any UN inspectors volunteered to return while there is still a war going on?

3. In the past 3 weeks, the US has already found things that the UN could not and are openly able to interview people the UN has not been able to. Give our inspectors a few more weeks.

What about the WMD's that needed to be destroyed, are they now forgotten?

I mean, they were so easy to find for the UN, why not for the US with a force that can go anywhere and is not limited to a couple of hundred men?

I guess you have forgotten that for the first couple of weeks there was a large amount of shooting going on. I am sure there would have been much more progress without that happening.

I guess you have forgotten about the tons of documents that have been recovered in the past couple of weeks.

I guess you have forgotten about a couple high level nuke scientist that are now being interviewed.

I guess you have forgotten alot....

 

[BaliBabyDoc]

I think the Pro-Invasion crowd has become inebriated by the thought of spending their war booty. WMD was a threat . . . according to Bush . . . in part b/c Saddam might use it directly against the US or an ally AND the materials or technology may be disseminated to entities that would use it against the US or an ally.

The former is not an issue (hopefully) but the latter appears to be incredibly real. We control some roads but have by no means control over the borders. If the Iraq truly possesses significant WMD material or knowledge, it is an absolute necessity to find it. Who cares if a couple of UN inspectors catch a bullet? OK, I do but I doubt many in the Pro-Invasion camp would lose any sleep. Life has risks. If the UN is willing to send them and the people are willing to go . . . why stop them from helping solve an INTERNATIONAL problem.

Last I heard, we invaded as a coalition of the willing to address a global threat.

Blix said inspections could be completed in weeks with a fully cooperative regime . . . so with the US in charge I guess we can get it done in 6-9 months.

 

[charrison]

Originally posted by: BaliBabyDoc
I think the Pro-Invasion crowd has become inebriated by the thought of spending their war booty. WMD was a threat . . . according to Bush . . . in part b/c Saddam might use it directly against the US or an ally AND the materials or technology may be disseminated to entities that would use it against the US or an ally.

The former is not an issue (hopefully) but the latter appears to be incredibly real. We control some roads but have by no means control over the borders. If the Iraq truly possesses significant WMD material or knowledge, it is an absolute necessity to find it. Who cares if a couple of UN inspectors catch a bullet? OK, I do but I doubt many in the Pro-Invasion camp would lose any sleep. Life has risks. If the UN is willing to send them and the people are willing to go . . . why stop them from helping solve an INTERNATIONAL problem.

Last I heard, we invaded as a coalition of the willing to address a global threat.

Blix said inspections could be completed in weeks with a fully cooperative regime . . . so with the US in charge I guess we can get it done in 6-9 months.

When did the UN offer to send inspectors in? I know the UN is wanting to send inspectors, but I have not heard they want to send them now as things are still dangerous there.

 

[Moonbeam]

I thought the US was pissed off at the world for not supporting our invasion and is now thumbing its nose at everybody. We make the rules.

 

[BaliBabyDoc]

I'm sure there's interesting closed door grousing going on but if Germany, France, and Russia have NOT offered to send inspectors then they all need to be flogged.

You are quite right . . . it's a big difference between complaining about not being allowed to return and the willingness to do it.

 

[Tiger]

and yet again, the US will be ridiculed on the international arena...

I doubt it. At least not by people who matter.
You can take your "international arena" and shove it as far up your international ass as it will go.

 

[Judgement]

Originally posted by: SnapIT
Hundreds of thousands of soldiers have roamed the land and found nothing, why, the US had clear intelligence that told them EXACTLY where they were, sure, they presented their "evidence" to the UN and got ridiculed in th process, but they knew where to find the "real" WMD's..

Obviously they did not, and yet again, the US will be ridiculed on the international arena...

Nice job guys.... LMAO!

Hundreds of thousands of soldiers haven't roamed the land, they've been attacking concentrated areas of population while defending themselves from suicide bombers. Recently they've found themselves acting as a police force.

Clear intelligence told them exactly where they were... except they announced that publicly before the war and Saddam knew they were coming. I'm sure they felt it was in their best interest to leave the weapons where they were.

IMO WMD will be found; there is no reason for them not to exist. The only people who've been denying their existence have been the people who didn't want us to invade Iraq and Saddam's regime. When Saddam submited the 1200 page document after the end of the Gulf War the pressure was put on him to destroy the weapons and provide proof that he destroyed them. All that has happened is he has said he destroyed them, not provide any proof; to just take Saddam's word on it is like believing the Iraqi information minister... how naive can you actually be. Saddam knew from the beginning he was going to need to provide proof, but he just got lazy and decided not to... is the argument you guys are trying to make? Hell, if memory serves me Saddam hasn't told the truth about the banned weapons from the beginning. I remember reading that the amount of weapons he had listed in the submitted document were less then 1/3 the actual quantity the UN had found and documented.... I guess he just forgot about those also?

The only reason you guys even have a WMD argument is because of the wording Bush used to describe Iraq's WMD. If Bush had argued for the war saying Saddam needed to be taken out of power so the UN could properly execute its inspections.... which it hasn't been able to do since they began... then went to war without UN approval things would be a lot different then they currently are. Sure people would have said that isn't enough to go to war with Iraq, but haven't they been saying it even when he claimed to be sure they had the weapons? The broken resolutions alone gave enough political justification for the war.

 

[bjc112]

Originally posted by: SnapIT
Hundreds of thousands of soldiers have roamed the land and found nothing, why, the US had clear intelligence that told them EXACTLY where they were, sure, they presented their "evidence" to the UN and got ridiculed in th process, but they knew where to find the "real" WMD's..

Obviously they did not, and yet again, the US will be ridiculed on the international arena...

Nice job guys.... LMAO!

Hundreds of thousands is doubtful...

There are over 2,000 sites to be searched, damn give them at least a month after the fighting stops...

 

[Alistar7]

Originally posted by: BaliBabyDoc
UN inspectors are inept . . . we wouldn't expect them to find any. But in accordance with French, Russian, and German requests they are free to look as long as they like . . . which should be good enough for Bush to say, "there's WMD there . . . well it used to be there b/c we know it was there . . . somewhere . . . but now it is in Syria . . . somewhere."

If they are not found what is the reaosn then, where are the tons of nerve agent and thousands of liters of anthrax still unaccounted for? I would like to know where they wound up, wouldn't you?

 

[T2T III]

Originally posted by: SnapIT
Hundreds of thousands of soldiers have roamed the land and found nothing, why, the US had clear intelligence that told them EXACTLY where they were, sure, they presented their "evidence" to the UN and got ridiculed in th process, but they knew where to find the "real" WMD's..

Obviously they did not, and yet again, the US will be ridiculed on the international arena...

Nice job guys.... LMAO!

You're too much. Do you exhibit any patience in your life at all?? Give the troops some time. Stop being impatient.

 

[Squisher]

Originally posted by: Moonbeam
What if they didn't find any?

That would mean that Saddam actually was truthful when he reported one third of what the UN Inspectors said he had after Gulf War I.

That would mean he really did destroy all that he had.

It would mean he never attempted to acquire any more WMD in the past decade.

That would mean that that Saddam did show a level of integrity of on this issue that he never showed in any other issue.

That would mean that GW either received bad intelligence about Iraq from an organization that has been surprisingly accurate throughout this war.

OR

GW fabricated the whole WMD issue knowing that he was putting 300K troops lives in jeopardy for a fallacious reason and also knowing that afterward he would he would not only risk the ire of the world at large, but this would be a gold mine for any opposing party come election because he would be shown to be a bigger liar then even Slick Willy.

OR

He hoped to be able smuggle a sufficient amount of WMD in Iraq afterward and have all the troops, journalists, and Iraqi citizens involved be complicitous in this fraud.



What do you think is the most likely scenario? What? You don't like my choices?