Why is Iraq Insisting on War?

[NewsGuy]

Whether one supports or opposes a war against Iraq, there is a very basic question that is, as yet, unanswered:

Why is Saddam Hussein insisting on going to war?

Let's step back a moment and recall that the United States made only one simple demand, which is that the Iraqi regime be honest about the location of its weapons of mass destruction to avoid war.

Yet, Saddam is apparently choosing to be overthrown or killed personally, and have much of Baghdad destroyed -- all to avoid surrendering a small portion of his weapons.

This insistence on war is truly incomprehensible to me. Is Saddam just playing a game of brinkmanship, where at the eleventh hour he will suddenly invite Kofi Anan to Baghdad and then suddenly unveil his chemical weapons?

Or is this insane Arab dictator relying on European hypocrisy to save his hide?

And why are the Europeans who supposedly want peace, not pressuring Saddam to relinquish his weapons as a way of avoiding war?

[L@mplighterM]

I firmly believe that the anthrax used in the US was supplied by Iraq. If I’m right his goose would be cooked if he handed over his stock pile and it was proven that it was an identical match to the product used in the US.

Handing over the weapons might be a simple task but it would lead to questions such as where did he get the raw materials. I imagine that there’s a lot of pressure coming from behind the scenes from nations that acted as his supplier to not hand over the WMD.

Who supplied him with the ingredients to manufacture WMD? France? Germany? China? Pakistan? Russia? Belgium?

Of course one should also consider the possibility that the whole country is mined and there’s the remote possibility that he has a nuclear capability. If North Korea seemingly out of the blue declares that it has nuclear bombs one has to wonder how good is the intelligence gathering of the CIA.

Urban warfare is most definitely going to keep the body bag manufactures busy. Currently there’s more than a 100,000 Gulf War veterans suffering from Gulf War syndrome and it’s not known whether it was the immunization they received or whether they were exposed to chemicals.

Then again there is the possibility that he’ll take this to the brink and enter exile in some Arab country.

One way or another Hussein’s days are numbered.

[JustPat]

Originally posted by NewsGuy Whether one supports or opposes a war against Iraq, there is a very basic question that is, as yet, unanswered:

Why is Saddam Hussein insisting on going to war?
I am reminded of a time when Israel had an evil dictator and the need of a regime change. Ahab murdered his own people, served no one's interests but his own and those of his queen. The Scriptures tell us that he was drawn into destruction by "lying spirits" in the mouths of his counselors. Could it be that Saddam has been duped by the same seducing spirits? Or has he been sucked into a vortex of destiny from which he cannot escape? Has G_d once again drawn an evil dictator into an ambush? (No pun intended)

[cerulean]

Why is Saddam Hussein insisting on going to war?

What is the downside to war, from Saddam's point of view? If he succeeds in stopping a war, he keeps his weapons and his grandiose plans. If he doesn't succeed, he'll probably get asylum somewhere, and get to take his billions with him. If he cooperates, there are no real benefits and he'll quickly be stripped of his power.

[JustPat]

Originally posted by cerulean
What is the downside to war, from Saddam's point of view? If he succeeds in stopping a war, he keeps his weapons and his grandiose plans. If he doesn't succeed, he'll probably get asylum somewhere, and get to take his billions with him. If he cooperates, there are no real benefits and he'll quickly be stripped of his power.
There is always that off chance that he could end up shy of dead and at the mercy of his captors. That might have him in the PTSD flashback mode.

[Kapiti]

Lamplighter

You ask " Who supplied him with the ingredients to manufacture WMD? France? Germany? China? Pakistan? Russia? Belgium?
"

Maybe it was good old Donald R when Iraq was a mate. Chances are that most of the WMD originated in some from the land of uncle sam.

[LionOfLoyalty]

This being true, I see no reason not to correct that mistake here and now. It was a terrible mistake to fund Saddam, just as it was a mistake to fund OBL when he was fighting the soviets in afghanistan. While the country made a mistake then, we now have the opportunity to fix it. Isn't that an opportunity worth taking?

Originally posted by Kapiti
Lamplighter

You ask " Who supplied him with the ingredients to manufacture WMD? France? Germany? China? Pakistan? Russia? Belgium?
"

Maybe it was good old Donald R when Iraq was a mate. Chances are that most of the WMD originated in some from the land of uncle sam.

[Mediocrates]

Originally posted by Kapiti
Lamplighter

You ask " Who supplied him with the ingredients to manufacture WMD? France? Germany? China? Pakistan? Russia? Belgium?
"

Maybe it was good old Donald R when Iraq was a mate. Chances are that most of the WMD originated in some from the land of uncle sam.


You say this as if it's relevant in some way. It is not.

[JustPat]

Originally posted by LionOfLoyalty
This being true, I see no reason not to correct that mistake here and now. It was a terrible mistake to fund Saddam, just as it was a mistake to fund OBL when he was fighting the soviets in afghanistan. While the country made a mistake then, we now have the opportunity to fix it. Isn't that an opportunity worth taking?

The local sheriff authorized the local gun dealer to sell the murderous thug a gun which the thug then used to rape, rob and murder innocent people. The sheriff arrested him, put a lock on his gun, and demanded the elimination of all his ammunition. His probation officer keeps finding empty shells, empty powder cans and a series of receipts for more ammunition. Inspection of the gun shows that someone has been trying to pick the lock. Whose obligation is it to disarm the thug?

We don't have an opportunity to disarm Saddam, we have an obligation. Now, not later!

[danholo]

A German company supplied Saddam with ingredients for chemical or/and biological weapons before 1983.

[LionOfLoyalty]

And the French gave him his reactor. However, we must remember that since we gave Saddam his weapons we must also bear the burden of disarming him.

[L@mplighterM]

Originally posted by Kapiti
Lamplighter

You ask " Who supplied him with the ingredients to manufacture WMD? France? Germany? China? Pakistan? Russia? Belgium?
"

Maybe it was good old Donald R when Iraq was a mate. Chances are that most of the WMD originated in some from the land of uncle sam.

Sorry I should have been clearer I was referring to after the post Gulf War.

[L@mplighterM]

Thursday, February 20, 2003

UNITED NATIONS — Iraq has given U.N. inspectors the names of people who took part in the destruction of banned materials from its biological weapons and missile programs, a U.N. official said Thursday.
In his report to the U.N. Security Council last Friday, chief U.N. inspector Hans Blix said Iraq had presented a list of 83 participants "in the unilateral destruction in the chemical field, which took place in the summer of 1991."
He asked Iraq for a similar list of people who took part in the destruction of other proscribed items, especially in the biological field.
"Since then, the Iraqis have provided lists of individuals involved in unilateral destruction of biological and missile items in the early 1990s," Blix's spokesman, Ewen Buchanan, said Thursday.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,79107,00.html

I don’t think it’s enough to provide the list at this point and the questions should be asked why it wasn’t handed over years ago.
Inspections are only viable if they are conducted with the full cooperation of all parties. It’s always been a hide and seek type of a game in Iraq and inspections have never been the answer to finding contraband. Finding WMD in Iraq would be the equivalent of finding a needle in a haystack the size of a mountain in other words next too impossible.
There’s only one way to make sure that Hussein will never use WMD and that’s to eliminate him from power and I believe that will be done.

[NewsGuy]

Originally posted by L@mplighterM
Handing over the weapons might be a simple task but it would lead to questions such as where did he get the raw materials. I imagine that there’s a lot of pressure coming from behind the scenes from nations that acted as his supplier to not hand over the WMD.

Sooner or later, we'll find out exactly who supplied Hussein with his WMD. But I don't think that Saddam is willing to die to protect the French, Germans, Russians or Chinese.

Already, in their initial 1,000 page document given to the UN months ago, Iraq listed the French and Germans as his chemical weapons suppliers.

There must be more to it.

[LionOfLoyalty]

There have been reports of American companies supplying him secretly, even after the Gulf War.

The government should attempt to verify these reports and punish those companies under their jurisdiction by the full extent of the law.

[cerulean]

I refuse to watch the Dan Rather interview with Saddam, but I read today that Saddam said he'd rather die than go into exile. I hope he soon gets his wish.

[Mediocrates]

It was a glimmer into complete self delusion. First the news crew is blindfolded and driven around like hostages. They have to use an Iraqi camera/recording crew 'for security purposes'. Then every word out of that worthless scum's mouth is all "I'm for peace, I want to be nice - don't you like playing fair.

Not once were they allowed to ask the questions they wanted. Not once did they pursue and answer for additional explanation.
Not once did they corner him.
And the one time they asked whether interrupting the interpreter was an indication that he spoke English, he blew it off and they bought it.

A debate? Did he smoke scorpion sh--? WTF is that?

This was a paid political ad by the Baath party.

[Am Yisrael]

Originally posted by cerulean
I refuse to watch the Dan Rather interview with Saddam, but I read today that Saddam said he'd rather die than go into exile. I hope he soon gets his wish.

Saddam had been exiled before when he and his thugs attempted to murder Iraqi Prime Minister Abdul Karim Kassim. http://www.shmana.com/art/profile_saddam.html

[L@mplighterM]

Originally posted by cerulean
I refuse to watch the Dan Rather interview with Saddam, but I read today that Saddam said he'd rather die than go into exile. I hope he soon gets his wish.


Getting bloodthirsty are we?

I read most of the interview and walked away realizing that communicating with Arabs/Muslims(excluding the ones that are westernized) is next to impossible.

Their ways of communication isn’t absolutely alien to me having spent a considerable time chatting with Arabs (I pretended to be one of them) throughout the ME prior to 9/11.

There are many that would argue that Hussein isn’t an Islamic fundamentalist but I would say that anyone that continuously uses the term Allah throughout an interview is indeed a religious fanatic by any standard.

Anyone that goes through life believing and justifying whatever the do is the will of a higher power (Allah) is not sane by my standards. I could list the names of serial killers/mass murders that also believed that they were the right hand of G_d when they carried out their dreadful acts.

I can’t think of any way to communicate with an individual like Hussein other than killing him. There’s no way to discuss anything with an individual that firmly believes that he/she is carrying out Allah’s will couple with the fact that all non Muslims are unworthy infidels.

There’s no question in my mind that Arab/Muslims could justify everything if they let the Koran be their conscience and absolute guide to distinguish right from wrong. This is evident in dealings between Muslims who are from different sects, thus it would not be incorrect to assume that their hatred towards Jews and the west is just a continuance of such beliefs.

There are of course indications that Hussein bows to intense pressure from the international community but on the other hand this could be a charade on his part. I believe that to be the case! One distinct feature in psychopaths is their ability to manipulate and the interview with Rather was designed to do just that.
I imagine that his interview did manage to sway opinions. My opinion is that leaders like Saddam must be removed continuously if possible and I hope that there’ll soon be an end to him.