Post by Gavin on Oct 3, 2003 10:33:58 GMT -5
I don't care if we ever find Saddam's WMD. There are two things that matter where Iraq is concerned: We know FOR SURE that Saddam has had WMDs and WMD
programs at some point becaused he has USED them on people. We also know that he was required by international law (the Gulf War ceasefire and numerous UN resolutions) to cooperate with weapons inspectors so that they could verify his disarmament - which he never did over the course of 12 years. Tell me again why we should let that slide? Why not enforce the law???
I would point out that UN resolution 1441, Saddam's LAST CHANCE to comply, did not only require that Saddam not own any WMDs, it also required specifically
that he must FINALLY fully and immediately comply with all of the inspectors' demands so that they could verify whether he had destroyed the known, unaccounted
for stockpiles. These were the international community's demands, not Bush's - remember, resolution 1441 passed UNANIMOUSLY in the UN security council and
called for serious consequences if Iraq did not comply. So the only question left is, after 1441, the last chance resolution, was issued, did Saddam fully and immediately comply to avoid the serious consequences? Not according to chief inspector Hans Blix. Iraq never budged on the most important issues of the inspections, such as off-site interviews with scientists, surveillance overflights, etc etc etc. End of story.
BUT as if we needed to find evidence of WMD to justify enforcing international law, it is slowly but surely coming out:
Some of the evidence of Iraqi weapons programs disclosed by CIA weapons inspector David Kay during congressional committee testimony Thursday:
A clandestine network of laboratories and safe houses within the Iraqi Intelligence Service that contained equipment that was subject to U.N. monitoring and was suitable for continuing chemical and biological weapons research.
A prison laboratory complex that possibly was used to test biological weapons agents on humans. Kay said his investigations have shown that Iraqi officials working to prepare for U.N. inspections were ordered not to declare the facility to the U.N.
Reference strains of biological organisms concealed in the home of an Iraqi scientist. One of the strains can be used to produce biological weapons.
New research on biological weapons-applicable agents, Brucella and Congo Crimean Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF), and continuing work on ricin and aflatoxin -- none of which were declared to the U.N.
Documents and equipment, hidden in scientists' homes, that would have helped Iraq resume uranium enrichment by centrifuge and electromagnetic isotope separation
programs at some point becaused he has USED them on people. We also know that he was required by international law (the Gulf War ceasefire and numerous UN resolutions) to cooperate with weapons inspectors so that they could verify his disarmament - which he never did over the course of 12 years. Tell me again why we should let that slide? Why not enforce the law???
I would point out that UN resolution 1441, Saddam's LAST CHANCE to comply, did not only require that Saddam not own any WMDs, it also required specifically
that he must FINALLY fully and immediately comply with all of the inspectors' demands so that they could verify whether he had destroyed the known, unaccounted
for stockpiles. These were the international community's demands, not Bush's - remember, resolution 1441 passed UNANIMOUSLY in the UN security council and
called for serious consequences if Iraq did not comply. So the only question left is, after 1441, the last chance resolution, was issued, did Saddam fully and immediately comply to avoid the serious consequences? Not according to chief inspector Hans Blix. Iraq never budged on the most important issues of the inspections, such as off-site interviews with scientists, surveillance overflights, etc etc etc. End of story.
BUT as if we needed to find evidence of WMD to justify enforcing international law, it is slowly but surely coming out:
Some of the evidence of Iraqi weapons programs disclosed by CIA weapons inspector David Kay during congressional committee testimony Thursday:
A clandestine network of laboratories and safe houses within the Iraqi Intelligence Service that contained equipment that was subject to U.N. monitoring and was suitable for continuing chemical and biological weapons research.
A prison laboratory complex that possibly was used to test biological weapons agents on humans. Kay said his investigations have shown that Iraqi officials working to prepare for U.N. inspections were ordered not to declare the facility to the U.N.
Reference strains of biological organisms concealed in the home of an Iraqi scientist. One of the strains can be used to produce biological weapons.
New research on biological weapons-applicable agents, Brucella and Congo Crimean Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF), and continuing work on ricin and aflatoxin -- none of which were declared to the U.N.
Documents and equipment, hidden in scientists' homes, that would have helped Iraq resume uranium enrichment by centrifuge and electromagnetic isotope separation
