... For me, Iraq attempted to conquer a neighbor and killed a lot of its own peoples for disagreeing with the dictators policies. There is a key "violation" indicator for me also. If you disagree here, you would not be killed or locked up for articulating such attitudes. The fact that we can openly debate the matter is another "no violation" key... Yes, good post. They also did that with out help and our blessing: "The AGWVA also points out: "Probably the most critical piece of information is that according to Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward, in a December 15, 1986 article, the CIA began to secretly supply Iraq with intelligence in 1984 that was used to 'calibrate' mustard gas attacks on Iranian troops" -- meaning that Rumsfeld and company not only knew about the chemical warfare attacks but helped Iraq target the victims!" The Bush administration has a lot of explaining to do. US was key supplier to Saddam http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/88244_sean24.shtml It seems that Rumsfeld and the rest up there have conveniently forgotten to mention their actions. I just hope cool heads prevail. Josh
On the previous post They also did that with out help and our blessing: should read: They also did that with our help and our blessing: Thanks Josh
Two points here. First, this is not the same administration. While MANY of the players are the same, the top man is not. No matter how many common pieces are there now, the decision maker is going about things differently. Second, if this info that you speak of is true, then there is not a legitimate denial of having the materials for chemical warfare out there. I also think that we all know of those actions of the past administration(s). I think the team that Sadamn was pitching for at the time, was the U.S. He was supposedly part of our puppet of the month club. Based on that, we were looking the other way as he accomplished our overall goal for the day. Now that he is a free agent, the country who helped create him has a problem with his UNDIRECTED actions. He has become another in a line of embarrassments that the U.S. helped develop and supported. The power has truly gone to his head. He honestly believes he is a self-made man of the people.
This ridiculous propaganda about there being a factual necessity to take out Saddam with unilateral US military action has got to be the biggest piece of misguided propaganda this country has seen in a long time. Apart from Bushs favorite puppy Blair no other state in the world is falling for the facts twisted beyond recognition emanating from the White House. First we build Saddam up, let him get away with starting a war against Iran, all the way up to providing him with biological and chemical weapons, and we even accepted that he'd be using his BC weapons, not that we cared, but we're pretty good at that, after all, we also built up Osama Bin Laden and many other rogues and rogue regimes. Take our handling of Pakistan, and it's unelected military dictator, Pervez Musharraf. If any country is a breeding ground for terrorists it's Pakistan, that's where the Taliban got funding and expertise from, and of course also from the US, and that is also, where up to this day, the Islamists in Kashmir are being supported from, and where torture and killings are the order of the day. Add unto that equation that Pakistan has ABC weapons at it's disposal, as does India, and yet we're supporting Musharraf, just like we previously supported innumerous other dictators and their barbaric regimes. And yet government has the hypocrisy, of hoping that peoples memories are short, that they can then suddenly turn around and profess horror at the results of our political shortsightedness or just mere manipulations. Heck, not even Henry Kissinger sees any merit in Juniors little military adventure designed to distract from the hefty economic problems we have at home. Anyway, whatever happens, the USA are gonna go down this road alone because nobody else is dumb enough to fall for the Propaganda BS, and we'll be the only ones paying the bill. Here is Uncle oSAMa's take on Juniors Iraq distraction ploy from our own huge problems at home: I Want YOU To Invade Iraq Go ahead. Send me a new generation of recruits. Your bombs will fuel their hatred of America and their desire for revenge. Americans wonât be safe anywhere. Please, attack Iraq. Distract yourself from fighting Al Qaeda. Divide the international community. Go ahead. Destabilize the region. Maybe Pakistan will fall -- we want its nuclear weapons. Give Saddam a reason to strike first. He might draw Israel into a fight. Perfect! So please -- invade Iraq. Make my day. http://www.tompaine.com/op_ads/opad.cfm/ID/6438
Hey TigerO, you are the same guy that said that we created Bin Laden and the Taliban on another thread, your credibility is ZERO.
Bush Supports Islamic Religious Extremists Bush`s Faustian Deal With the Taliban By ROBERT SCHEER The Los Angeles Times Enslave your girls and women, harbor anti-U.S. terrorists, destroy every vestige of civilization in your homeland, and the Bush administration will embrace you. All that matters is that you line up as an ally in the drug war, the only international cause that this nation still takes seriously. That`s the message sent with the recent gift of $43 million to the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan, the most virulent anti-American violators of human rights in the world today. The gift, announced last Thursday by Secretary of State Colin Powell, in addition to other recent aid, makes the U.S. the main sponsor of the Taliban and rewards that "rogue regime" for declaring that opium growing is against the will of God. So, too, by the Taliban`s estimation, are most human activities, but it`s the ban on drugs that catches this administration`s attention. Never mind that Osama bin Laden still operates the leading anti-American terror operation from his base in Afghanistan, from which, among other crimes, he launched two bloody attacks on American embassies in Africa in 1998. Sadly, the Bush administration is cozying up to the Taliban regime at a time when the United Nations, at U.S. insistence, imposes sanctions on Afghanistan because the Kabul government will not turn over Bin Laden. The war on drugs has become our own fanatics` obsession and easily trumps all other concerns. How else could we come to reward the Taliban, who has subjected the female half of the Afghan population to a continual reign of terror in a country once considered enlightened in its treatment of women? At no point in modern history have women and girls been more systematically abused than in Afghanistan where, in the name of madness masquerading as Islam, the government in Kabul obliterates their fundamental human rights. Women may not appear in public without being covered from head to toe with the oppressive shroud called the burkha , and they may not leave the house without being accompanied by a male family member. They`ve not been permitted to attend school or be treated by male doctors, yet women have been banned from practicing medicine or any profession for that matter. The lot of males is better if they blindly accept the laws of an extreme religious theocracy that prescribes strict rules governing all behavior, from a ban on shaving to what crops may be grown. It is this last power that has captured the enthusiasm of the Bush White House. The Taliban fanatics, economically and diplomatically isolated, are at the breaking point, and so, in return for a pittance of legitimacy and cash from the Bush administration, they have been willing to appear to reverse themselves on the growing of opium. That a totalitarian country can effectively crack down on its farmers is not surprising. But it is grotesque for a U.S. official, James P. Callahan, director of the State Department`s Asian anti-drug program, to describe the Taliban`s special methods in the language of representative democracy: "The Taliban used a system of consensus-building," Callahan said after a visit with the Taliban, adding that the Taliban justified the ban on drugs "in very religious terms." Of course, Callahan also reported, those who didn`t obey the theocratic edict would be sent to prison. In a country where those who break minor rules are simply beaten on the spot by religious police and others are stoned to death, it`s understandable that the government`s "religious" argument might be compelling. Even if it means, as Callahan concedes, that most of the farmers who grew the poppies will now confront starvation. That`s because the Afghan economy has been ruined by the religious extremism of the Taliban, making the attraction of opium as a previously tolerated quick cash crop overwhelming. For that reason, the opium ban will not last unless the U.S. is willing to pour far larger amounts of money into underwriting the Afghan economy. As the Drug Enforcement Administration`s Steven Casteel admitted, "The bad side of the ban is that it`s bringing their country--or certain regions of their country--to economic ruin." Nor did he hold out much hope for Afghan farmers growing other crops such as wheat, which require a vast infrastructure to supply water and fertilizer that no longer exists in that devastated country. There`s little doubt that the Taliban will turn once again to the easily taxed cash crop of opium in order to stay in power. The Taliban may suddenly be the dream regime of our own war drug war zealots, but in the end this alliance will prove a costly failure. Our long sad history of signing up dictators in the war on drugs demonstrates the futility of building a foreign policy on a domestic obsession.
Good points. Here is another good one: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/09/23/ED85365.DTL
"Enslave your girls and women, harbor anti-U.S. terrorists, destroy every vestige of civilization in your homeland, and the Bush administration will embrace you. All that matters is that you line up as an ally in the drug war, the only international cause that this nation still takes seriously. That`s the message sent with the recent gift of $43 million to the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan, the most virulent anti-American violators of human rights in the world today. The gift, announced last Thursday by Secretary of State Colin Powell, in addition to other recent aid, makes the U.S. the main sponsor of the Taliban and rewards that "rogue regime" for declaring that opium growing is against the will of God. So, too, by the Taliban`s estimation, are most human activities, but it`s the ban on drugs that catches this administration`s attention. I suppose you think if you repeat lies enough they will come true. Are you getting paid for this shit or are you just a sick mother fucker ????