Even though Coalition forces are still busy mopping up the remnants of Saddam's scattered forces, they have just found 20 missles with Chemical Weapon Warheads in Iraq!
http://discover.npr.org/features/feature.jhtml?wfId=1223246
And this from NPR, not your usual Conservative mouthpiece!
I wonder if any of the UN crowd will now admit they were wrong?
Remember, those remnants number about 30,000 Baath party regulars who have run that country for 30 years. 'Mopping them up' is not a simple nor totally useful act. A turbulent and perhaps violent period for that country is about to begin, and I can't imagine a more troubled organization to administer it (other than relief efforts) than the UN. Let's hope for the best, I personnaly hope our army runs it for 1 year minimum. Order is the thing IRAQ needs most right now, not more French politicizing.
and on a lighter note:
U know the world is crazy whent the best rapper is white, the best golfer is black, the tallest basketball player is Chinese, teh swiss own the America's cup. .... and the Germans don't want to go to war!
I saw an excerpt on MSNBC a couple of days ago, where one of the imbeds was interviewing some of the Marines that raided an ammunitions dump in Basra. When asked where most of the weapons seemed to come from, the Marine replied, "Jordan... and France." I didn't see the piece rolled again for the rest of the day, or any time since. I guess that Marine didn't get the memo not to mention where the ammunitions were coming from....
I guess that explains to some degree why France and Russian weren't very eager to get involved in the fray. What's next? German-supplied chemical weapons?
BJ, Palm Beach
[email protected]
...both sides for generations. War is REAL GOOD business for these people.
I heard from ABC News that it is likely what they have found is pesticide. Also, Rumsfeld in his press conference in the morning did not claim this was the smoking gun, rather suggested a wait and see attitude. Driving home in the evening, I heard the same from NPR.
But, that goes to show you that NPR has indeed turned out to be the mouthpiece of Conservatives.
One of the outcome of this war will be every little country now will develop, steal, or buy weapons of mass destruction in a hurry to effectively defend against us in case we decide to invade.
Next, let's watch the parade of countries declaring to be nuclear powers. This is called the "Newton's Third Law of Motion" for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
Now, I take bets for identifying the first country to make the declaration!
matter what US do. Similarly, criminals will continue to commit crimes whether or not there is a crack down on criminal activities.
BTW, it was Dana Lewis of MSNBC along with a CNN reporter with their embedded unit 101st Airborne Division who reported on the speculation about those drums being part of biological weapon. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/07/international/worldspecial/07CND-CHEM.html . NPR along with the 1st Marine Division reported on missiles equipped with Sarin and Mustard gas: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47645-2003Apr7.html .
NPR will never be a mouthpiece of Conservatives. I guess you have not heard enough of their broadcast. Jumping on a developing story is a journalistic impulse - those loaded warheads could still contain biological weapons.
-- Modified on 4/8/2003 1:20:03 AM
vast Right Wing conspiracy we keep hearing about.
Obviously, you have not been listening to NPR recently ...
Then you need to explain to us, why at the cost of $2B/day, according to Senator McCain, we have invaded Iraq. So, no matter what we do, these awful weapons are going to be developed by others. I hate to break this up to you, Cruise Missiles cannot solve complex problems. It takes complex brain, creativity, and determination.
Some of the today's conservative, are so extremist, that even today's NPR, looks lefty to them. Here is a quote from your spiritual leader, Mr. Lott:
"We voted for Strom Thurmond when he ran for presidency. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years, either"
I wish you enlighten us by what Lott meant, stating "these problems!"
NPR is definitely left leaning - When is the last time they gave equal time to conservative commentators in their programs.
In case you don't know, I am no conservative - I am a moderate Republican, just like there are some in the Democratic Party that are not liberals - Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana, Congressman Horald Ford Jr., etc.
If not for US cruise missiles and air bombings, Europeans would still be watching on the sidelines on the matter of Kosovos. Sometimes, as a last resort, the only way to solve matters is through the use of arms.
The problem with Saddam is that he wants WMD as a mean to intimate his neighbors. He has a deep seated hatred for US after the Gulf War. He has the oil wealth to support his ambition. He has weak Arab neighbors. All those make him a dangerous and imminent threat. Egypt has no oil – it is still under the fold of US because of the $2-3B yearly aid. Similarly Syria has no oil, plus its leaderships over the years are very cautious; could be subjected to external pressure. Libya had been scared off after the US bombing in 1986. They are far from the center of Arab oil so its effects would be far less. Gadhaffi is not as ambitious and brutal as Saddam. He wants subtle influence not direct confrontation. Libya can be contained. Saudi Arabia is still a pseudo ally. They don’t have enough men and have too much to lose to pose as a military threat. (Their support for radical Islam is another matter.)
All those Islamic troubled countries might face internal pressure to reform if Iraq became a democracy and vastly improved their people’s lives.
North Korea is being dealt with by pressures on and from China. Iran’s youths are yearning for democracy. It is a delicate issue that had to be dealt with influence and diplomacy.
There are only 3 other troubled countries besides North Korea, Iran and Pakistan that could post potential threat – Nigeria, Venezuela and Indonesia. Nigeria is still too far away from the major centers of the world. They are currently not threatened by any neighbor to go the WMD route. Venezuela is still in the early stage of becoming a dictatorship. Maybe it will revert back to democracy in a few years.
Indonesia is a big trouble spot that could spread to Malaysia, Singapore and Australia. So far, there are too many internal squabbles for them to focus on external matters.
It is hard to put the Genie back to the bottle. That is why the Anti-Ballistic Missile Defense is so important. North Korea currently has the capability to strike Alaska. In the very near future, it could hit CA and the West Coast. In a few years, it could strike anywhere in US. Its technology could spread to anyone.
This is no longer a time where US can rest on its laurels. I am glad that US had the foresight to spend the money on developing the Patriot Pac-III, the predator and the JDAMs. Otherwise, our causalities would be much higher.
You can call me a war hawk but I am no follower of Trent Lott.
-- Modified on 4/8/2003 8:35:53 PM
OJ was innocent and I would bet my left testicle that you voted for Gray Davis!
The search for Chemical/Biological Weapons hasn't even started yet! The fact that American Soldiers stumble upon these stockades notwithstanding.
Did you also read that one of the barrels was leaking and that three Soldiers received skin blistering before they donned their NBC suits? That skin blistering is symptomatic of Mustard Gas!
The fact that the Pentagon wants to return the substances to DC to test before releasing documented evidence is prudent.
I have to agree with Counterpointe, your "NPR is the mouthpiece of Conservatives" is hysterical!
I am one of those who still thinks this war is a bad idea - not because IRAQ doesn't have WMD. I believed they did. Not that I didn't think he is a scum bag who I'd personally shoot. Bad guy, hope he's dead with the rest of his crowd. But becuase it is a BAD IDEA for America to get drunk on its power after spending $250B annually on military (or whatever it is)and go it alone just because we can. Remember, Bush's initial statements about this in the fall was "we can do it alone." That premise drove all the window dressing that followed.
We could have gotten the whole world to have done whatever made sense if we had taken Bush's "humble" foreign policy campaign approach. We could have set a series of real milestones that Huessein would not have met and then gone in united. This is the problem: the world is too interconnected to be so isolated, and Bush's admin is building a legacy of this.
They question is: what is Rumsfield gonna do next?