lowing wrote:
You just argued Blair said the WMD's didn't matter, and now you argue this guy says they did. Make up your mind so I know which direction to take my argument.
Also, there was a breach of the cease fire. Who says you need to fire a shot to breach a cease fire. NON-COMPLIENCE was the breach in the cease fire.
http://usiraq.procon.org/viewresource.a … 670#kuwaitTHe timeline straight from 90 to 2003
The war started in 91 is the same war of 2003. Iraq disabeyed the treaty and he got thumped for it.
a) The British government, led by Blair, used WMD as the
legal pretext to allow them to enter into a war with an ally they sought favour with, the US. That is a fact. Blair didn't actually care about the WMD issue, he just wanted to walk lockstep with the US, he just needed it as an excuse for such an irrational act. You seem to be oblivious to the fact that the WMD issue and the UN resolution non-compliance are both one and the same thing and that the United Nations Security Council made it clear that following UN Resolution 1441 the US and others did not have legal authority to invade Iraq. If Saddam was found in breach of said resolution the matter had then to be reverted to the UNSC to discuss the matter of military action. Bush and Blair signed UN 1441 and assured everyone it contained 'no hidden triggers'.
b) Non-compliance did not warrant military action. Saddam had been completely emasculated through the largely successful application of sanctions (check the state of his shitty military at the end) and the imposition of the no-fly zone. Arms inspections were carried out for a period of 7 years commencing in 1991. The non-compliance may have been used as the excuse but it certainly was not defensively necessary for any western nation to waste blood on it. It was simply carried out because he sat on top of a shit load of oil and with sanctions applied they found themselves completely hamstrung in terms of freeing up those resources.
c) The very fact that a tribunal is currently raking British politicians over the coals over the WMD issue speaks volumes about the reality of the then situation. Can't you remember the ludicrous theatre of Colin Powell's presentation of a vial of anthrax to those assembled at the UN?
At the end of the day there was no sufficiently worthwhile or decent reason to drag the west through the muck again as devious overlord of the world, spilling countless gallons of blood both western and Iraqi, and funnelling taxpayers money into the pockets of the already rich. The US and friends didn't honestly care about UN resolutions, as evident in there ignorance of the provisions of UN Resolution 1441. Play the UN card if you want, but at the end of the day it's a smokescreen for an immoral, irrational, wasteful, destructive and pointless act. It's funny to watch those that lambast the UN so much cling to the ink on papers they hold in their vaults...
Last edited by CameronPoe (2009-12-14 15:23:59)