From: Kai Becker (kmb@kai-m-becker.de)
Date: Sun Feb 23 2003 - 17:27:18 MST
Am Sonntag, 23. Februar 2003 17:21 schrieb John K Clark:
> If WMD are ever used by Saddam or any other terrorist organization
> against America I expect they will be shipped just like any other
> package, by UPS or Federal Express.
And why should he be so stupid? If any piece of such an attack could be
traced back into Iraq, Saddam and his regime would be bombed to pieces by
an international coalition, not by one country alone. To actively attack
something or someone outside his own country would be suicide for Saddam
and I'm sure he knows that so pretty well, that nowadays, he wouldn't let
any terrorist come near him.
> >I don't think that Iraq is telling the tuth, but
> Then I guess you don't think the United Nations should play any part in
> future world events.
This decision has been made by others, not by me. Several states continue
to ignore UN resolutions, simply because they know that noone is coming
to punish them. Not only Iraq, but Israel, China (AFAIK) and last but not
least the US government.
> The UN unanimously passed a resolution requiring
> Iraq to tell the TRUTH about its weapons and disarm; if UN resolutions
> are nothing but hot air then the UN is toast.
So, in your opinion, the punishment for lying is total destruction and
death not only for the liar, but also for those he holds hostage? There's
nothing else we can do? Hm. For someone with only a hammer, everything
looks like a nail, right?
> > I say send more inspection teams, do more surveillance
>
> The only reason Saddam let inspectors back in is that the USA
> surrounded his country with 200,000 soldiers, that can not be
> maintained indefinably and the nanosecond that pressure is reduced he
> will kick the inspectors out just as he did before.
(1) It doesn't take 200,000 soldiers to maintain the pressure.
(2) The best part of the world would be glad to help, if this
were not the private adventure game of Mr. Bush and his friends.
(3) The USA military bases in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Turkey were
able to ensure the no flight zones for twelve years now. How much
more would it take to extend this zone across the whole country
and have daily practice with AWACS, U2 and other systems?
> >force Iraq to accept human rights, free press,
> >free political activities.
>
> Force? How?
Read my mail again: "But _not_ by a massive attack and military
invasion, but by one step after another, full publicity and no chance for
arab extremists and terrorists to use the Iraq incident for their own
business - e.g. get their hands on the leftovers of any WMD fabrication."
That means: use _approriate_ tools and force on the actual spot, military
if necessary, but don't make it a global mess.
"If an invasion is necessary, make it a silent invasion of inspection
teams, human rights supervisors, international relief organizations, etc.
until the Iraq regime can no longer maintain its pressure on the people.
If Saddam refuses to comply, use restricted force against the spots he
denies access to. Even if this requires years, it will be cheaper and
more under control than a war at this time."
> > In other words: Do you have any proof for your claim?
>
> I don't need any proof for my "claim" because in my last post I only
> wrote about weapons that Iraq has admitted having or things the UN
> inspectors (not Washington) have deduced.
Ah, okay. But those weapons have been destroyed, right? In fact, as Mr.
Blix said, the UN inspection teams have destroyed more weapons during the
last 12 years than the international troops of gulf war 1 did.
So what are we talking about, the weapons that have been destroyed or the
alleged weapons that have not been found yet? Do you have the hard facts
that Mr. Powell failed to present? Or is this another turn of "it is
there, because I believe it must be there"? And if there are not hard
facts yet, why not find them first? Is this going to be a second gulf of
Tonkin maneuver?
Kai
-- == Kai M. Becker == kmb@kai-m-becker.de == Bremen, Germany == "Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced"
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