zorbman said:
Everything points to his motive. From the attempted assassination to the offer of succor to al Q and other terrorists to the bribery of the UN, France and Russia.
Nonsense. He would have to have been an absolute moron to have threatened the U.S. after having his ass handed to him in the first Gulf War. I don't think he got to that position by being a moron. His military had been extremely degraded after the first Gulf War and following years of sanctions. What military power he did have was used to maintain power in his own country, not menace the United States.
No he was not a moron, he was a cagey bastard who knew that he had successfully bribed France Russia and the UN to end the sanctions. Why is this constantly ignored? And when that happened he would be right back in the same business he was in beforehand. Of course he was never a "military" threat. That is not the only form a threat takes, or have you still not learned that lesson?Quote:
Regarding any assassination attempt you should put the word "alleged" in front of that phrase as nothing has ever been proven; We only have the word of the Kuwaitis to go on in that regard.
Clinton found them credible enough to launch more than a few cruise missiles as punishment.Quote:
As for purported Al Qaeda ties, according to the 9/11 Commission Report no "operational relationship" existed .
That's right, he had no operational ties, because al-Q turned down his offer. They didn't need him and they didn't much like him either. But once we took Afghanistan away and Sudan had tossed them out and Saudi Arabia was definitely out don't you think bin Laden would have taken him up, along with the other terrorists he was harboring? Of course they would have. Syria doesn't have the balls and Iran doesn't want the competition. Quote:
According to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Report, "Postwar findings indicate that Saddam Hussein was distrustful of al Qa'ida and viewed Islamic extremists as a threat to his regime, refusing all requests from al Qa'ida to provide material or operational support." p108, G. Conclusions .
But then we have this
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/005/804yqqnr.asp?pg=2
Subsequent to the SSCI, which reports the following among many others:
"Two days later, on February 19, the Iraqi Intelligence Service finalized plans to bring a "trusted confidant" of bin Laden's to Baghdad in early March. The revelation came in documents discovered after the Iraq war by journalists Mitch Potter of the Toronto Star and Inigo Gilmore of the Sunday Telegraph. The U.S. intelligence community is now in possession of these documents and has assessed that they are authentic. The documents--a series of communiqués between Iraqi Intelligence divisions--provide another window into the relationship between the former Iraqi regime and al Qaeda. The following comes from the Telegraph's translations of the documents.
The envoy is a trusted confidant and known by them. According to the above mediation we request official permission to call Khartoum station to facilitate the travel arrangements for the above-mentioned person to Iraq. And that our body carry all the travel and hotel expenses inside Iraq to gain the knowledge of the message from bin Laden and to convey to his envoy an oral message from us to bin Laden, the Saudi opposition leader, about the future of our relationship with him, and to achieve a direct meeting with him."
It is dangerously naive to believe that the world is static and allegiances are etched is stone, especially with the notoriously fickle Arabs.Quote:
Saddam Hussein was a defanged paper tiger in a cage and posed no threat whatsoever to the United States.
I disagree, for all of the reasons presented above, as well as many others. First, not all threats are military. Second, given nowhere else to turn the vermin will come together. Arabs are particularly noted for their evershifting alliances of convenience. Third, not all terrorist enemies of the US are al Qaeda, they just pulled off the most spectacular attack, so even if it had been established that there was no al Q link with Iraq, which there hasn't, it is irrelevant to the greater fact that Hussein supported terrorists whenever he felt it useful. Fourth, the sanctions were going to collapse under the weight of his bribery.
He should have been taken out and shot just for lighting the Kuwait oil wells on fire in his retreat. It served no military purpose whatsoever. Moron? No. Insane? Assuredly.
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