JDG wrote:
At 08:47 PM 4/30/2005 -0700, Doug wrote:My suggestion was meant to imply that it makes more sense to attack S.A. than it does to attack Iraq,
O.k., its not clear from this message. Do you believe that the US should have pursued a war against Saudi Arabia after 9/11?
I think that S.A.s connection to the attacks should have been investigated and exposed. I doubt that that would have lead to an invasion but it may have provided impetus for change in that government. Letting them off scot free was criminal.
a country that had no involvement in the 9/11 attacks whatsoever and that, due to international sanctions, the U.S. military presence enforcing no fly zones over most of the country, and invasive WMD inspections, posed no threat to the U.S. or anyone else.
This is not exactly true. On 9/11/01 there were no WMD inspections occuring in Iraq, and indeed, none had occurred for years.
So?
O.k., so you seem to be saying that following 9/11, the rest of the world would have believed George Bush that there was a connection between 9/11 and Iraq, and thus would have ceased pushing for an end of sanctions on Iraq?????
See Gary's post, he said it better than I could.
Inspection teams + U.S. presence + sanctions = No threat.
Given that Saddam Hussein had kicked out UN inspsection teams, that US troops were only along the Southern Border of Iraq, and what we now know about how UN sanctions operated on Iraq, particularly the Oil-for-Food program, do you believe that these sanctions would have effectively prevented Saddam Hussein from selling chemical and biological weapons on the black market to the highest bidder?
What chemical weapons, John. He didn't have any and he didn't have any history of selling them to anyone. What would have provided the impetus for him to start doing so?
Also, do you believe that the above would have effectively prevented Saddam Hussein from purchasing a full-assembled nuclear weapon from the DPRK over the long run?
Yes, sanctions and the U.S. presence would have made it difficult to do so and continuing inspections would have been a further deterrent.
-- Doug _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
