[Baron Munchausen]

Originally posted by deccan:

quote:

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Originally posted by Jack Simth:
From what I have seen on the news, the search hasn't found much. Does this mean the components aren't there? No; nor does it mean that they are there, nor does it mean they never were there, nor does it mean many other things, especially because I've also read a news report where a member of a US search team was criticizing the methods he had been ordered to use. Mind you, the news in my area is severly slanted and not too terribly reliable, so that should be taken with a health dose of salt. If my assumptions aren't valid, then neither are most of my possible conclusions. I personally have no method by which to be certain on the subject. I have suspicions, but that is all they are, when it comes down to it.

By and large, I agree with Jack Smith's reasoning. I agree that it was reasonable for the various governments to assume that Iraq had / might still have WMDs. I'd like to point out that even France didn't claim that Iraq was free of WMDs.

A more significant point of contention was whether or not the supposed WMDs were a credible, imminent threat to the United States. I'd say that claiming that they were would be stretching the truth.

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The real problem that you are missing is that most of the 'components' of both chemical and biological weapons are useful in countless civilian industries. You have the 'components' of chemical weapons under your kitchen sink and/or in your garage. With the recent advent of bio-engineered organisms as 'pesticides' you might even have bio-weapons in your garage. Who's to say whether a pesticide (chemical or bio) plant is going to be retooled in one day to make 'human' pesticide instead of insect pesticide? This is just the most obvious case. There are scores of other manufacturing processes that use the same toxic chemicals that you would use to make chemical weapons. It takes manufacturing experts a lot of serious study of the equipment to recognize signs that certain manufacturing equipment is setup for 'dual use' and then the UN had to decide whether to further destroy Iraqs civilian economy just to remove one more possibile souce of WMD.

So you can see how someone watching this process from the outside and seeing the constant maneuvers to frustrate or outright deceive the inspectors could decide that this government simply can't be trusted. That said, I don't at all agree with the course they took once they decided this. The 9-11 attacks have set off a genuine panic/paranoia in the US government and created something very dangerous.

[ September 16, 2003, 17:23: Message edited by: Baron Munchausen ]