| I believe Iran is seeking nuclear weapons. |
What makes you believe this? Could it be the fact that the President and others in the administration have said this for years? Maybe it was the new leader of Iran who said he wanted the weapons to use against Israel and America? What a radical belief you have. Here is another radical belief, I believe the sun will rise in the morning and set in the evening. But don’t hold me to my radical belief.
| The mistake Bush made was to attack Iraq who had no nuclear weapons program in 2002. |
This is what I believed in 2002 and still believe today for the most part. I was born and raised in New York and the attacks there hurt me deeply. I am a bit emotional so forgive me.
Now, I believe the facts that have brought us to this fateful vote are not in doubt. Saddam Hussein is a tyrant who has tortured and killed his own people, even his own family members, to maintain his iron grip on power. He used chemical weapons on Iraqi Kurds and on Iranians, killing over 20 thousand people. Unfortunately, during the 1980's, while he engaged in such horrific activity, he enjoyed the support of the American government, because he had oil and was seen as a counterweight to the Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran.
In 1991, Saddam Hussein invaded and occupied Kuwait, losing the support of the United States. The first President Bush assembled a global coalition, including many Arab states, and threw Saddam out after forty-three days of bombing and a hundred hours of ground operations. The U.S.-led coalition then withdrew, leaving the Kurds and the Shiites, who had risen against Saddam Hussein at our urging, to Saddam's revenge.
As a condition for ending the conflict, the United Nations imposed a number of requirements on Iraq, among them disarmament of all weapons of mass destruction, stocks used to make such weapons, and laboratories necessary to do the work. Saddam Hussein agreed, and an inspection system was set up to ensure compliance. And though he repeatedly lied, delayed, and obstructed the inspections work, the inspectors found and destroyed far more weapons of mass destruction capability than were destroyed in the Gulf War, including thousands of chemical weapons, large volumes of chemical and biological stocks, a number of missiles and warheads, a major lab equipped to produce anthrax and other bio-weapons, as well as substantial nuclear facilities.
In 1998, Saddam Hussein pressured the United Nations to lift the sanctions by threatening to stop all cooperation with the inspectors. In an attempt to resolve the situation, the UN, unwisely in my view, agreed to put limits on inspections of designated "sovereign sites" including the so-called presidential palaces, which in reality were huge compounds well suited to hold weapons labs, stocks, and records which Saddam Hussein was required by UN resolution to turn over. When Saddam blocked the inspection process, the inspectors left. As a result, President Clinton, with the British and others, ordered an intensive four-day air assault, Operation Desert Fox, on known and suspected weapons of mass destruction sites and other military targets.
In 1998, the United States also changed its underlying policy toward Iraq from containment to regime change and began to examine options to effect such a change, including support for Iraqi opposition leaders within the country and abroad.
In the four years since the inspectors left, intelligence reports show that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock, his missile delivery capability, and his nuclear program. He has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including Al Qaeda members, though there is apparently no evidence of his involvement in the terrible events of September 11, 2001.
It is clear, however, that if left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will continue to increase his capacity to wage biological and chemical warfare, and will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons. Should he succeed in that endeavor, he could alter the political and security landscape of the Middle East, which as we know all too well affects American security.
Now this much is undisputed. The open questions are: what should we do about it? How, when, and with whom?
Iran though a nasty problem most of their dirty work was done under the radar so to speak while Iraq was making proclamations. The danger was obvious, clear, and vocal. Iran did not become vocal until after we were in Iraq. Remember that the leader in Iran was a moderate that wanted to renew relations with America until he was replaced. Also remember that the majority of Iranians wanted to renew our relations and only the religious leaders are opposed to this so we would only do more harm than good if we attacked Iran.
| You claim Bush is fighting to prevent Iran from moving toward nuclear capability but NOTHING Bush has done has worked. |
Nothing that your shortsighted inabilities can see. Other things are in the works if you would bother to look for news from areas other than hate news sites. This is open information nothing hidden just not discussed. You have to look for them something you don't seem to be very good at.
| 2/3 of the Area in Iraq may be somewhat stable but the central portion and the most densely populated area and capital gets worse by the day. |
Only if you ignore the truth and cling to lies and information left out of the news.
| Iraq is closed to all out civil war today then ever before. |
You say this but last month you said it was a civil war when I said it was not. Which is it? close to civil war or is it now a civil war? This is why it is so difficult to get you to see the truth because you change your mind every few days. Each time your argument is debunked you change it slightly contorting your beliefs to skirt around the facts you don't wish to address.
| If you believe that we are moving toward peace between Israel and the Palestinians, please follow the White Rabbit down the hole. |
Well lets follow the rabbit a bit and see where it leads. For decades it has been the policy of the terrorist that no recognition of Israel will be accepted. only the total destruction of the nation will be the minimum acceptable goal. Now they have admitted there is such a legal state. Before there were no friendly nations on Israel's borders now there is only one unfriendly nation, and open support for the terrorists is down to two countries Iran and Syria. Are you saying that is not progress?
| The war in Afghanistan is not getting worse because of a change in the season. Bush and the commander in Afghanistan would not be requesting more troops because of a change in the season. |
Yes, your indepth research shows this to you? Go back over the press reports and you will see that is how they fight in that area. Ask the Soviets, and the Brits, both lost against them because they failed to notice that winter lull in fighting and mistook it as winning. Troops get pulled out and in the spring they attacks start up again. You said you went to war college, did you miss the month on military strategy, military history, and military tactics? Wait, you said you went to war college, did you graduate?
| Unless Bush in lying AGAIN, he says Syria and Iran are becoming BIGGER problems in Iraq and Lebanon. |
Axis of evil speech 2001, does this ring a bell? Saying it for almost six years and you still have not noticed it in any of your in-depth research of the topic? It seems Mr. Bush saw the problem years before you did and was trying to fix it while you were crying about the invasion of Iraq the President told the world who the enemies were and how he was planning to deal with them. Again you must have missed that in your research. Iran, North Korea, and Syria seem to have paid attention becasue each time the area starts to calm down we have falir ups because they know they are next.
