The Official Iraq War Thread...

[aaron_mag]

Originally posted by FactsOfLife
the mere fact that this story ends with a slap at the administration, is a disqualifier.

Why? I think you read the last statement with a paranoid mind. These questions have been raised. Still it is no cause for real concern. If Iraq has WMD they will be hidden close to Saddam. They may even be found after the war is over as people defect to curry favor with the U.S. (and be excused for their sins in the previous regime). Plus once we capture the administration sectors we will have a paper trail to WMD and terrorist links. Of course the first thing we will do is hide/destroy any incriminating records that link Iraq with ourselves (including Rumsfelds visit to Iraq in the 80s).

[FactsOfLife]

Originally posted by aaron_mag


Why? I think you read the last statement with a paranoid mind. These questions have been raised. Still it is no cause for real concern. If Iraq has WMD they will be hidden close to Saddam. They may even be found after the war is over as people defect to curry favor with the U.S. (and be excused for their sins in the previous regime). Plus once we capture the administration sectors we will have a paper trail to WMD and terrorist links. Of course the first thing we will do is hide/destroy any incriminating records that link Iraq with ourselves (including Rumsfelds visit to Iraq in the 80s).

Paranoid? hardly. jaded? maybe. knowing that the VAST majority of reporters and news agencies are left leaning makes them HIGHLY suspect.

Tell me, exactly what did that last statement of that story add to the credibility of the find and subsequent outcome of the NBC materials they may have found?

how about... nothing.

[MAGma 14]

my dad is out there and he is an 101st airborne div. soldier

[aaron_mag]

I see your point of view but don't think that was the intent of the last paragraph. I could debate the rest of your statement (the supposed left leaning of the press) as well but we would get way off topic....

At any rate I think that the warheads will yield the smoking gun versus the pesticide. I heard it on NPR this morning and while I haven't seen any confirmation since then NPR is usually pretty reliable.

EDIT: Magma posted before. I think it was the 101st Airborne that were reported to find those warheads. So your dad is part of the discovery of what could be a key element!

[Load SM5]

Originally posted by MAGma 14
my dad is out there and he is an 101st airborne div. soldier

Thank God for guys like your dad.

[HoppysMag]

Originally posted by MAGma 14
my dad is out there and he is an 101st airborne div. soldier

tell him he has our thanks and best wishes...

[Hamster Huey]

If you're looking for a good right-leaning news source, the WSJ stands at the top of the pack. The Washington Post is also out there, although they tend to be a more balanced organization.

[Cope]

Saddam From Iraq:

http://www.liquidgeneration.com/poptoons/saddamfromiraq.swf

[cphilip]

fact is there have been Banned weapons already found. The two Al Samoud II missles were banned and were declared by Iraq not to exist. And we know they still have 12 of those latest ones they paraded out and were destroying. We also have traces of Sarin and Mustard coming from the river they are reporting as if they may have dumped them recently to avoid capture of them. And no one has confirmed these latest ones. NOR ruled them out. Any reports from other than Centcom would be speculative at this point and no one is spending any time hunting them at this point. Too many things else to do. They will concentrate on that as time allows and the place is safe enough to dig. They are getting good intelligence. This group of barrels was pointed out by a Senior Iraqis officer. Two of the barrels was camoflaged and testing has not been done of them. Samples are on the way out to the labs.

One thing you should note is that some Chemical Weapons ARE pesticides. They use Cholinesterase inhibitors of same lineage of Pesticides to make these. They are usualy complicated Organo Phosphates and those are deadly if used in concentrated form and guess what the antidote is? Atropine. And they found that in great supply too. An ignorant person may claim they are "Pesticides" and they will indeed kill pests, but they may be in forms and concentrations that would serve as weapons. They are similar to many chemical weapons we have been talking about and indeed are chemical weapons when used right.

[FactsOfLife]

Saddam and sons may have assumed room temperature...

According to Fox News, Saddam and his two sons were seen entering a house in a residential area of Baghdad.

Coalition forces leveled the place with "A lot of ordnance".

They were not seen leaving the residence either before or most certainly after this strike.

Hmmm maybe SH and Chemical Ali, toast within 24 hours of each other?

[cphilip]

Similar thing here

Also it was proven the film of him in the streets shaking hands with the people that was supposed to show him this week was realy from Early March. It was pretaped before. Long before...

[Hamster Huey]

Provided we find a smoking gun, as it seems we have, I'm very curious as to how the French, Germans, and Russians will react. The Russians have been slowly coming over to our side of the fence since the war started. Will they become more vocal supporters now? The French said very early on that Iraq's use of WMD would "change the situation entirely" or something to that effect. Are they then going to say, "Sorry - our bad," and start providing assistance? Or will they feel too embarrased to get involved in the war effort and instead provide economic assistance and try to get in on the rebuilding contracts? And as for the Germans, I haven't heard a peep out of them since this whole thing began. It'll be very interesting to see how the discovery of WMD will change the international opinion of this war.

[aaron_mag]

It probably won't change their opinion much since they will claim (not saying it is correct or incorrect) that if we had given the weapons inspectors more time and resources they would have found the WMD.

Also didn't the French say that if WMD were used against U.S. forces during the war they would enter the war? It doesn't appear that Saddam or the Iraq army will end up using WMD in this war (we hope). That is great for our forces although I heard a General at the beginning of the war claim that chemical weapons would have been ineffective against our forces anyway.

[FactsOfLife]

Originally posted by Hamster Huey
Provided we find a smoking gun, as it seems we have, I'm very curious as to how the French, Germans, and Russians will react. The Russians have been slowly coming over to our side of the fence since the war started. Will they become more vocal supporters now? The French said very early on that Iraq's use of WMD would "change the situation entirely" or something to that effect. Are they then going to say, "Sorry - our bad," and start providing assistance? Or will they feel too embarrased to get involved in the war effort and instead provide economic assistance and try to get in on the rebuilding contracts? And as for the Germans, I haven't heard a peep out of them since this whole thing began. It'll be very interesting to see how the discovery of WMD will change the international opinion of this war.

The French can go pound salt.

They picked their side and now they're going to finish the race on the horse they started on.

They had a chance, no several chances to get on board with the coalition way before this started and they chose to spit in our faces.

Now they want in?

they can go eat some cheese and sew white flags for all I care.

The Germans are damned close to that as well. Schroeder ran his re-election campaign on an anti-American platform to coddle the US haters in his country to win.

I kinda doubt our State Department is going to forget any of that too soon.

[aaron_mag]

The atlantic breech will be healed. We are so entwined with Europe economically that we hurt ourselves to hold bad feeling against our allies. It is a mutually beneficial relationship and we would do well to remember it. European companies employ many workers in the U.S. and we do the same...

EDIT: as far as our state department having a long memory goes remember that both Stalin and Saddam were once our allies. Woe to those who hope for constancy in politics....