Report cited threat in Hussein defeat

[ConLaw]

http://www.msnbc.com/news/941757.asp?0cv=CA00

Report cited threat in Hussein defeat
Declassified report: Iraqi leader posed more danger after war

Before you jump all over this as reason to not to have invaded Iraq, ask yourself, would you really wanted to have done nothing and waited for Saddam to aquire nukes? Saddam could not have been allowed to aquire nukes no matter what, and war was going to happen regardless because of this.

[the_sam]

1. Without war...

He would've been much less likely to use them, if he acquired them at all.

Too tired to expand on that... more tomorrow.

[annagull]

2. I'm jumping in

All the evidence proves that the inspections were working--the reason why bush* pre-empted them. Saddam had no air force nor navy defence--exactly how was this a fair fight? Maybe you can enlighten me? How was he to get the nukes to the shores of the United States without an air force or a navy? Oh, that's riiiiight, just like the 9-11 hijackers, eh? Then doesn't that mean our "Homeland security" is truly a joke? Please, Conlaw, give us your wisdom.

[tkmorris]

3. Loopy

There were arms inspectors in Iraq. You simply do NOT develop nuclear weapons under the kind of scrutiny Iraq was under, and had been under since 1991.

You haven't been hiding under a rock have you? The whole notion of a viable Iraqi nukes program has been utterly eviscerated. They haven't had one for years. They did not acquire, or attempt to acquire any yellowcake uranium from Niger or anywhere else. The claims made that "everyone knows" that they acquired 300 pounds of it previously, in the 80's, are false. The aluminum tubes were just that. Tubes. The buried centrifuge was 12 years old and of no danger or use to anyone.

Pakistan now, THEY have nukes. As does India. It looks likely that North Korea does too, or will soon depending on whom you choose to believe. Among others.

What exactly was your point again?

[lightbulb]

4. You must have a crystal ball

So far the closest thing to "nukes" found in Iraq are a few small parts burried in a guy's rose garden. Is it not inconceivable that Saddam had given up on the idea of mass destruction, deciding that the status quo (incredible wealth, palaces, etc.) was something he could live with?

Saddam was a tyrant, but he was not suicidal. He knew damn well that if he became too big a threat to the west he would be in big trouble. That's why he backed off and ALLOWED inspectors unfettered inspection of his country toward the end, when things were heating up. I don't think it is logical to assume that "war was going to happen regardless". War happened because Bush and his buddies decided it was in their best political/financial interest to make it happen.

[lazarus]

5. dupe

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=24980&mesg_id=24980&page=

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

6. No reason to jump all over it, it was known prior to the war

And we weren't waiting for him to acquire nukes, we were inspecting so that is not a valid boogeyman. War was not inevitable and it certainly did NOT need to be a unilateral decision aided solely by Britian and the handful of countries the Bush administration bought. Had the UN troops gone in if war WERE inevitable, they would be sharing the responsibility with us now and order would be more feasible with trained peace keeping troops.

Maybe you forgot the rigged Pentagon war games that caused a general ro resign in disgust since he was told to quit making it so hard for the team being trained (the blue team) to succeed in urban warfare. He apparently got into too many technicalities trying to slip up the blue team by using scooters rather than telecommunications to delver the messages to the red team on how to undermine the blue team.

All more evidence that the oil rep was made but the real war was poorly planned, the admin overreached and while I agree that Saddam SHOULD not have nukes, you and many others are simply using scare tactics since Hussein was always a plotter who valued power He certainly was no more likely t USE those nukes than anyone else who presently possesses them. Do you feel better that they ignored North Korea's actual possession in exchange for this? I don't.