USS Cole suspect killed in US airstrike.

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xBiffx

Diamond Member
Aug 22, 2011
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But there's still a larger question - did the war with Iraq directly or indirectly cause even more people to join or support AQ?

Probably no more or less support than the U.S. military got because of it.
 

Hayabusa Rider

Admin Emeritus & Elite Member
Jan 26, 2000
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But there's still a larger question - did the war with Iraq directly or indirectly cause even more people to join or support AQ?

Most of the insurgency wasn't AQ related. No one knows the recruiting power of the Iraq was, but if weren't able to attack in Iraq, they would have in Afghanistan. Iraq was an irrational war.
 

cybrsage

Lifer
Nov 17, 2011
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Did you type that with a straight face? The main reason for invading Iraq was WMDs which weren't there.

Unless you always believe the government says the truth when they say things, you cannot so easily dismiss what I said. Do you believe the government is always truthful? I do not.

While it is true that Hans Blix found WMDs in Iraq shortly before the war started, and it is true that all the major intelligence services of the planet said Iraq had WMDs still, I believe this was simply the pretext used for the war. Using this as a pretext, they could enforce UNSC 1441 and invade.
 

Hayabusa Rider

Admin Emeritus & Elite Member
Jan 26, 2000
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Unless you always believe the government says the truth when they say things, you cannot so easily dismiss what I said. Do you believe the government is always truthful? I do not.

While it is true that Hans Blix found WMDs in Iraq shortly before the war started, and it is true that all the major intelligence services of the planet said Iraq had WMDs still, I believe this was simply the pretext used for the war. Using this as a pretext, they could enforce UNSC 1441 and invade.

The major intel agencies which we cited were known intel echoes. The simple analogy is if Bob tell something to Alice, Jill, and Ann, then they repeat it, that is an echo. The deceit is when Bob then cites the three he told as arguments to support his contention. That's what we did.
 

cybrsage

Lifer
Nov 17, 2011
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The major intel agencies which we cited were known intel echoes. The simple analogy is if Bob tell something to Alice, Jill, and Ann, then they repeat it, that is an echo. The deceit is when Bob then cites the three he told as arguments to support his contention. That's what we did.

Possibly, I really cannot say due to the inherent secrecy of those agencies. However, if we assume we already knew this, then that simply lends credence to my statement that we used WMDs as a pretext and not the actual motive.
 

theeedude

Lifer
Feb 5, 2006
35,787
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Unless you always believe the government says the truth when they say things, you cannot so easily dismiss what I said. Do you believe the government is always truthful? I do not.

While it is true that Hans Blix found WMDs in Iraq shortly before the war started, and it is true that all the major intelligence services of the planet said Iraq had WMDs still, I believe this was simply the pretext used for the war. Using this as a pretext, they could enforce UNSC 1441 and invade.

I guess you do believe the WMD tripe you were fed.
 

theeedude

Lifer
Feb 5, 2006
35,787
6,197
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Possibly, I really cannot say due to the inherent secrecy of those agencies. However, if we assume we already knew this, then that simply lends credence to my statement that we used WMDs as a pretext and not the actual motive.

Obama finally put an end to that nonsense, and focused on Al Qaeda, and we are now seeing the results of that focus.
 

cybrsage

Lifer
Nov 17, 2011
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Obama finally put an end to that nonsense, and focused on Al Qaeda, and we are now seeing the results of that focus.

Obama is trying to stop the spread of democracy in the Middle East? Why would he do that?
 

werepossum

Elite Member
Jul 10, 2006
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I guess you do believe the WMD tripe you were fed.
Just out of morbid curiosity, what's your explanation of all those dead Kurds and Iranians, mass hysteria or secret American government attack?

And I KNOW you believe that the USA (and probably Ronald Reagan personally) supplied those WMDs - not that they had them. I can feel the waves of belief in American perfidy coming from you.
 

theeedude

Lifer
Feb 5, 2006
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Just out of morbid curiosity, what's your explanation of all those dead Kurds and Iranians, mass hysteria or secret American government attack?

And I KNOW you believe that the USA (and probably Ronald Reagan personally) supplied those WMDs - not that they had them. I can feel the waves of belief in American perfidy coming from you.

You mean in 1980s? LOL. You saying Hans Blix went back in time and found WMDs?
 

werepossum

Elite Member
Jul 10, 2006
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You mean in 1980s? LOL. You saying Hans Blix went back in time and found WMDs?
Perhaps you weren't aware that in the nineties we were destroying chemical and biological stockpiles from World War II and even earlier.

That's the thing about chemical weapons - if you use them, it's easy to make more.
 

theeedude

Lifer
Feb 5, 2006
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Perhaps you weren't aware that in the nineties we were destroying chemical and biological stockpiles from World War II and even earlier.

That's the thing about chemical weapons - if you use them, it's easy to make more.

Aluminum tubes, yellow cake, mushroom cloud warnings? You are telling me we spent a trillion dollars and thousand of American lives to rid Iraq of chemical weapons that we gave to Iraq in the 80s?
 

Hayabusa Rider

Admin Emeritus & Elite Member
Jan 26, 2000
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Perhaps you weren't aware that in the nineties we were destroying chemical and biological stockpiles from World War II and even earlier.

That's the thing about chemical weapons - if you use them, it's easy to make more.

But the philosophy of premption carries a moral imperative of correctness. Guessing what might happen one day isn't good enough. In fact there were purges and resignations galore because the claims made weren't backed up by data so those "troublemakers"were replaced with more politically sensitive types. Hell of a way to run intel services. No, Iraq was a complete cluster. Of course no one could have done as Obama does now much more than half a dozen years ago because what we use now either didn't exist or could not be in place. Now that it is, Obama seems to be responding to situations correctly.