Check out this article I got in an email:
Confronting Iraq February 11, 2003
Before we started seriously mobilizing to confront Saddam, I wrote several articles on dealing with Saddam.
In brief, I recommended giving Saddam 10 days notice to stand down all of his weapons and draw back whatever "sleeper cells" he had placed in or knew about in America. The threat was specific. If he did not do this in 10 days, a section of Bagdad and several military bases would be obliterated with neutron weapons.
The reasons which prompted this position were and are vital - as follows:
First, we know that Saddam had and, no doubt, yet has the following Chemical and Biological Agents: Summary: Since 1991 Gulf War, despite what was destroyed by the previous UN inspection teams, Saddam reconfigured 30 facilities. He has Mustard Gas/Blister Agent; CS Tear Gas; Nerve Gases including Tabun (GA) and Sarin (GB); VX Nerve Agents of which UNSCOM was unable to verify quantities destroyed BUT, 200-250 tons of VX Nerve Gases were unaccounted for. In its new declaration to the UN of this year, Iraq declared an addition 350 and 500 gauge and 100/250 gauge aerial bombs filled with CS. He also has Agent 15 - an incapacitant gas, similar to agent BZ produced by the U.S. (1)
Iraq has declared that it weaponized for chemical weapons purposes the following munitions: RPG-7 rocket-propelled grenades and 82mm and 120mm mortar shells exclusively for CS; 130mm and 155mm artillery shells for mustard agent; 250- and 500-gauge aerial bombs for mustard, Tabun, Sarin and CS; 122mm rockets, R-400 and DB-2 aerial bombs for Sarin and mixtures of GB/GF; and Al Hussein missile warheads for Sarin. Of these, Iraq acquired the capability to produce all of the aerial bomb types listed and the Al Hussein missile warheads and chemical containers for 122mm rockets.
Iraq's chemical warfare program was of enormous scope both in terms of scale and breadth. With respect to the issue of chemical warfare agent production, and based on Iraq's chemical FFCD of June 1996, the following material balance of chemical warfare agents and their precursors procured abroad and produced by Iraq in the period from 1981 to 1990 was presented by UNSCOM October 1997: [S/1997/774]:
Type of material Quantity (tons) Remarks
Precursor chemicals produced and procured More than 20,000 Some 4,000 tons of declared precursors are not verified owing to the absence of information sought by the Commission from suppliers.
Chemical warfare agents produced 3,850 Whether several hundred tons of additional chemical warfare agents were produced cannot be established owing to the uncertain quantities of precursors (mentioned in 1 above).
Chemical warfare agents consumed in the period from 1981 to 1988 2,870 No documents or information on the consumption of CW has been provided by Iraq to support the declared quantities consumed. Without supporting documents the verification of this part of the
material balance is impossible. Chemical warfare agents destroyed under UNSCOM supervision 690 Declared quantities were verified by the Commission.
Chemical warfare agents discarded during production, or destroyed during aerial bombardment in 1991 290 Iraq has not provided supporting documentation for 130 tons of chemical warfare agents declared to have been discarded or destroyed.
In the area of chemical warfare munitions, based on Iraq's FFCD of June 1996, a material balance of munitions either procured abroad and produced by Iraq, for CW purposes, in the period from 1981 to 1990 was presented by UNSCOM in October 1997 [S/1997/774]:
Type of munitions Quantity Remarks
Empty munitions produced and procured 247,263 Some 107,500 empty casings have not been verified owing to the absence of information sought by the Commission from the suppliers.
Munitions filled with chemical warfare agents or components 152,119 Whether several thousand additional munitions were filled with chemical warfare agents cannot be established owing to the uncertain quantities of procured munitions (mentioned in 1 above).
Filled munitions consumed in the period from 1981 to 1988 101,080 No documents or information on the consumption of chemical munitions has been provided by Iraq to support the declared quantities consumed. Without supporting documents the verification of this part of the material balance is impossible.
Filled and empty munitions destroyed unilaterally by Iraq 29,172 Unilateral destruction of 15,620 munitions is not verifiable owing to the destruction methods used by Iraq (melting and demolition).
Filled and empty munitions destroyed under UNSCOM supervision 38,537 Declared quantities were verified by the Commission.
Filled and empty munitions discarded by Iraq or destroyed during aerial bombardment in 1991 78,264 Iraq has not provided supporting documentation for 16,038 discarded chemical munitions.
Note. The margin of error in the accounting presented by Iraq is in the neighborhood of 200 munitions. (2)
In most cases there either are no antidotes or cures. Even with such cures and antidotes, the victim may not fully recover, assuming that they are treated quickly. If Saddam launches a saturation attack, there may be too many victims to receive timely treatment (called ‘casualty surge’).
Saddam has threatened all invaders, including American soldiers both going into Iraq and those stationed in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Turkey will be fired upon. (Note! They will be fired upon with area-wide weapons which mean exactly as it sounds - across a broad area. This translates into using many of the substances mentioned in the U.N. table of toxic chemicals.)
In addition, Saddam has openly threatened to use these substances on population centers in Israel, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, ‘et al’.
In terms of casualties, we are minimally talking of hundreds of thousands into the millions. If such substances as Small Pox, Plague, Hemorrhagic Fevers among other Biological materials hit a populated area, it can additionally spread across the globe in a short time.
It was this picture I envisioned when I recommended a stand-off strike with neutron weapons to force Saddam to either stand down his Weapons of Mass Death or have his generals simply assassinate him out of self-preservation of their lives and families.
Starting a conventional war with numerous air-strikes would only allow him time to give the orders to fire his mix of WMD, Weapons of Mass Destruction.
There is no reason to give him this opportunity to unleash death on such a massive scale that even countries far away would experience outbreaks of Plague or other incurable diseases.
I realize that Liberals who cannot imagine the elimination of whole civilizations, will bleat, mewl and howl at the deaths of so many innocent Iraqis. Regrettably, in my estimation, there is simply no choice. It is either him or us. To allow Saddam to grow more tonnage of VX or Botulinum Toxins or to acquire Nuclear weapons (possibly from North Korea or Pakistan when, not if either of those governments are taken over by radical Islamists) - any or all of this cannot be tolerated.
There is no wiggle room, except in the minds of foolish diplomatic bureaucrats who babble nonsense even as Armageddon rolls over them. Should we be interested in the opinions of simplistic pastors, liberal marchers and the Peace Now crowds - all of whom have become unwitting pallbearers for the burial of western civilization.
After the 10 day notice and the subsequent obliteration of part of Bagdad, another notice would be given with a 12 hour deadline or all of Iraq, along with Saddam’s Mass Death weaponry would be reduced to ashes.
Shortly after that demonstration, a similar notice would be issued to Iran, Syria and North Korea.
The civilized world can no longer tolerate rogue nations ruled by dictators or religiously-driven would-be conquerors to co-exist on this planet with the supposedly sane rest of us. Nor can our cities be held hostage to sleeper agents who have been given materials that can decimate one of our cities.
What I am proposing is pre-emption in its most deadly form. If we do not wish to see those we love struck down by the substances we in the so-called civilized world, developed and allowed to be transferred to primitive nations, we must stop them immediately.
We made the mistake of being their suppliers and now we must cure the mistake.
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1. Chemical Weapons Programs in FAS: Weapons of Mass Destruction
2. "UNSCOM & IRAQI CHEMICAL WEAPONS"
http://www.fas.org/nuke/guid/iraq/cw/unscom.htm
Re: [OT] Another heated discussion about the Iraq siutation, war and politics.
). They're going to substantially larger than the current V/STOL class, but not as large as the American carriers. I think they're also going to operate aircraft designed jointly by the US and UK, although I might have got my wires crossed.
Now they want to act like they are the corner stone of the alliance. What a joke! No wonder Germany hated them so much! I recall when Europe had a little problem in their back yard. We were not really interested in going there, but we supported NATO and fulfilled our obligations. I bet we won’t have our people sitting on that powder keg much longer. 
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