Saddam Discusses His Nonexistent Weapons Program

[Bill_Thompson]

The Washington Times reports that Saddam Hussein sure talked a lot about a weapons program he supposedly didn't have

Audiotapes of Saddam Hussein and his aides underscore the Bush administration's argument that Baghdad was determined to rebuild its arsenal of weapons of mass destruction once the international community had tired of inspections and left the Iraqi dictator alone.
In addition to the captured tapes, U.S. officials are analyzing thousands of pages of newly translated Iraqi documents that tell of Saddam seeking uranium from Africa in the mid-1990s.

The documents also speak of burying prohibited missiles, according to a government official familiar with the declassification process.

[Lonewulf]

Kind've a "no shit" situation to me. Dictators like Suddam Hussein aren't the type to sit around twiddling their thumbs.

[Bill_Thompson]

The overlooked issue and question is this. If someone says that it was a mistake to invade Iraq, isn't it true, given the information stated above, it would have been a bigger mistake not to?

[Halcyon Dayz, FCD]

... Baghdad was determined to rebuild its arsenal of weapons of mass destruction once the international community had tired of inspections and left the Iraqi dictator alone.

Seems to me that it indicates that the inspection-regime was effective.

[Enzo]

Well, if he managed to actually build and have at hand some of these hypothetical WMDs, then he would be armed, just like the Israelis, the Syrians, the Iranians, and all the other folks in the region.

Since he had no effective air force, and half his country was occupied and had our constant air patrols over even the parts he still had, one must wonder just what elevated threat suddenly emerged that required our immediate invasion that had not existed the previous 12 years under those conditions. SO, no, not invading would not have been worse. He would have been a lesser threat than the others I mentioned.

EVen within the confines of Bush's "Axis of Evil" the Iraqis under Saddam were less of a threat to world peace, world stability, or the US in general than either the Iranians or the North Koreans, the rest of said Axis. North Korea repeatedly threatens to use nuclear arms against us, but lacking oil or other resources, we do not seem to need to attack them. Oran constantly rattles her sabres too. Do we attack them? Saddam never threatened us. He tried way back to take the Kuwaiti oil. But it was not like he planned not to sell it on the market. He just wanted the money, the ticket to the big leagues.

[Мастер]

either the Iranians or the North Koreans

One suspects the Iranians could fight back a little too well. Perhaps the North Koreans could also. If GWB is looking for some low-hanging fruit, Syria would seem like the best opportunity...

[Enzo]

Oh, I think you're right. Just trying to put the threat of Iraq in the context of Bush named enemies and then correlate to the BT premise.

[Мастер]

Oh, I think you're right. Just trying to put the threat of Iraq in the context of Bush named enemies and then correlate to the BT premise.

Understood :)

[Bill_Thompson]

Enzo, do you think that things should have continued as they were prior to the invasion? Would continuing with the air patrols and the weapons inspections be enough or even necessary?

[Enzo]

I think the status quo would have remained for a long time to come. I of course think that our air patrols and such would have continued to be necessary, I certainly wouldn't have trusted Saddam to sit there if left alone. But as it sat, Saddam had very little capability to expand the war on his terms, and even if he had some WMD, even he understood that at best any lauch of same would be a suicide. He was all about holding power, not making some cosmic point by going out in a blaze of glory. I think weapons inspections would have petered out as theu continued to find nothing. Saddam's WMDs were for the most part bluster and not hardware. His claims were to impress his neighbors, not us.

[MM_Dandy]

I've always wondered to what extent Saddam actually knew about the state of his nuclear capabilities. It seems to me that people tended to tell him what he wanted to hear, whether or not it was the truth. What I really wonder is if there was something like, "Oh, yes, Mr. President, we will have the Illudium pew-36 space modulator ready by the end of the year." Well, perhaps not that obvious, and there's more than a couple of reasons why that may not have happened too much. For instance, Mr. President's thug just might shoot a coworker and then ask another, "Where's the Illudium pew-36 space modulator?"