[MD] Barbarian attack

[Michael Hamilton]

Platt,

> > Oh, I can believe that Saddam concealed weapons programs in the '90s.
> > But that article doesn't answer the question: Where are the WMD that we
> > were told in that Saddam possessed before the Shock and Awe? Where was
> > the "clear and present threat"?
>
> If he concealed his weapon's program from UN inspectors, what gives you
> confidence that he didn't conceal them after the Allied attack?

The fact that, despite an enormous search opeation, no concealed
weapons have been unearthed.

> The
> Allies never claimed there was an imminent threat. The strike was to
> prevent a legitimate threat from Saddam from happening, just as a
> strike at Iran would prevent them from being able to blackmail the West
> with atomic bombs.

We in England were told by the Blair administation that Saddam had the
capability to launch WMD within 45 minutes, and I find it unlikely
that such claims did not circulate in the US media as well. A bit of
selective memory at work here, Platt?

> > Thanks anyway, it's always good too see more evidence that the
> > connection made between Iraq and international terrorism was pure
> > deceptive propaganda:
>
> It's been well documented that terrorists training camps operated in
> Iraq with Saddam's approval

They can't have been the fundamentalist Muslim barabarian terrorists
that you're banging on about, because Saddam was violently secular.

> and that he never hesitated to use terror
> to gain and hold power.

I said _international_ terrorism, Platt. The myth was circulated that
Saddam had links to al-Qaeda. But, as you say, Saddam was a nasty
piece of work who ruled by _internal_ terror. The pretext of
liberation was, however, one of the last to be adopted for the Iraq
war, as the noses of our leaders and media were beginning to resemble
that of Pinocchio.

> I'm always amazed by those in this country who
> seem willing to excuse the evil of the man and who are unwilling to
> take steps to protect Western intellectual values from such barbarians.

Who's excusing him? Saddam was a bastard. ('But at least he was our
bastard'... back in the '80s!) And on what grounds do you lump him
into your "barbarian" category with the fundamentalist Muslims?

Regards,
Mike