Daisy said:
Not only that, but the deception apparently went both ways - nobody wanted to tell Saddam that the nuclear programme had gone nowhere. If it weren't tragic, it would be funny.
Phillip,
If the chemicals were not weapons grade and there was no delivery system, then the only way it would be a threat to us - how many thousands of miles away are we from them? - is if we invaded them.
Who said the chemicals were not weapon grade? I don't know what that is supposed to mean? Sarin is sarin and it has to be made in a chemical plant--therefore, it is weapon grade?
If something can kill, it is obviously WEAPONS GRADE. The term weapons grade is used for nuclear material to determine whether or not it is pure enough to "go critical" if it were used in a nuclear bomb. It is not used on chemical shells.
Bush explained very carefully to us that he invaded Iraq because he had weapons of mass destruction program. He was a threat to his neighbors. Have you not read about Saddam using gas on the Northern Regions of his own country? Have you not seen the rotting bodies of children, men and women who were exposed to this stuff? NOT WEAPONS GRADE? NO WAY TO DELIVER IT?
Give me a BREAK!
He used the stuff on thousands of Iranians. We don't have any idea how many thousands he killed.
Didn't you read what happened in the subway in Japan using Sarin? Luckily the terrorists who used it didn't study it well enough to kill MORE than they did, but it still killed a lot.
If Saddam were to hand over just ONE of these shells to a terrorist who could slip it into the United States, then downtown New York could have easily been turned into a death zone. We can only hope that terrorists have not latched onto any of these YET.
Now, why did Saddam not use them? Because we went into Iraq with a strategic battle assuming that he would use chemicals if he had them. Our battle plan takes these things into consideration and we immediately eliminated all threats for being able to transport or launch any of these weapons. I'm sure they would have been used, in fact, there are questions now concerning whether or not soldiers might have been exposed to Sarin during Desert Storm.
Our military knows how to go in and control these situations--I doubt that you have ANY IDEA how well they are trained to keep the enemy from using chemicals when we enter a threater of war.
The lack of understanding of war and strategy really surprises me.
Besides, these weapons could be delivered to his neighboring countries including Israel. Terrorism was only ONE of the reasons that we took out Saddam. The other reason was that he was becoming a real and present threat to his neighbors including Israel.
Would you have rather have put the burdeon on Israel and turned the whole middle east into a nuclear war zone, just because Syria and the other Arab countries would stick with Iraq to destroy Israel forcing them to use nukes?