"Pete C." wrote:
>
>
> > Think about it for a second. Bush and his boys had so much proof of a vast
> > arsenal of WMDs that they went to war to disarm Saddam, but they were
> > unable to find them. One would expect that if they had had enough proof to
> > justify an invasion that they would have had no problem finding them.
> >
> > Don't you think that if Saddam had had WMDs that he would have used them on
> > the invading forces? What on earth do you think he was saving them for?
>
> The WMDs were indeed found and inventoried by the UN UNSCOM team and a
> small portion were destroyed before Saddam kicked the UN out. When
> Saddam was forced (by threats from Bush BTW) to let the inspectors back
> in a decade later, the previously inventoried WMDs were nowhere to be
> found. The fact that those WMDs that were previously proven to exist are
> still MIA should worry you.

Yes, there were some WMDs in the country. For some reason the US had no
problem with Saddam having and using chemical weapons on the Iranians back
in the 80s. they even gave them satellite intelligence to help them use
their chemical shells more efficiently. The weapons inspectors did find
some obsolete CW supplies and destroyed them. They also had problems with
some of the missiles that the Iraqis had been building or modifying. That
was before the invasion, before Bush's ultimatum. Bush went ahead with the
invasion based on allegations of a vast arsenal of WMDS that they were not
able to find after they invaded.

> > In that case, you were probably aware that, while Iraq had had a
> > significant WMD program but that it had been dismantled. You would know
> > too that, contrary to Bush's demands that Saddam allow the inspectors back
> > in, they had been withdrawn by the uS for their own safety because they
> > were going to launch air strikes.
>
> The WMD production facilities had been destroyed, the massive inventory
> of WMDs had only begun to be destroyed when Saddam kicked the UN out.

When was that? In Dec, 1998 the head of the weapons inspection team wrote a
report that Saddam was obstructing their inspections. Clinton ordered the
team out of Iraq because he was going to use air strikes to force Saddam to
cooperate. Over the next year the Clinton administration was not concerned
about Saddam's WMD program, but it was interesting to see ho things heated
up whenever new revelations came out about Monica Lewinsky, and air strikes
seemed to distract people from the scandal.



> If you check the timeline, you will find that Saddam let the inspectors
> back in (a decade later) only because of the threat of an attack, and
> the inspectors did indeed go in, were unable to locate the previously
> inventoried WMDs, and were being harassed and given the run around by
> Saddam for some time before Bush finally told them to get out and
> proceeded with the threatened attack.


Feel free to check it out. DOn't forget to check Dec, 16, 1998 where the UN
orders the inspectors out of Iraq.
28 February 1991: Gulf War ends, leaving Iraq subject to UN sanctions and
arms inspections.

29 October 1997: Iraq bars US weapons inspectors, provoking a diplomatic
crisis which is defused with a Russian-brokered compromise.

13 January 1998: Iraq blocks an inspection by a US-dominated team and
accuses its leader, Scott Ritter, of spying for America.

23 February 1998: UN Secretary General Kofi Annan announces a deal on
weapons inspections after meeting Saddam Hussein in Baghdad.

31 October 1998: The Iraqi leadership says it has ceased all co-operation
with Unscom, the United Nations Special Commission set up for weapons
inspections in Iraq.

14 November 1998: Baghdad tells the UN it is willing to allow inspections
to resume.

17 November 1998: Unscom inspectors return to Iraq.

16 December 1998: The UN orders weapons inspectors out of the country after
Unscom chief Richard Butler issued a report saying the Iraqis were still
refusing to co-operate. US air strikes on Iraq begin hours later.

17 December 1999: Unscom is replaced by the UN Monitoring, Verification and
Inspection Commission (Unmovic). Iraq rejects the resolution.

1 March 2000: Hans Blix assumes the post of Unmovic executive chairman.

3 May 2002: Unmovic and Iraqi officials hold talks - Mr Annan says they are
the first to take place at technical level since December 1998.

5 July 2002: UN-Iraq talks end without agreement on inspections as Baghdad
seeks assurances that sanctions will be lifted.

31 July 2002: Richard Butler tells a US Senate committee that Iraq stepped
up the production of chemical and biological weapons after UN inspections
ended - and might even be close to developing a nuclear bomb.

1 August 2002: Iraq says the chief weapons inspector, Hans Blix, is welcome
in Baghdad for "technical talks".

12 September 2002: President Bush addresses the UN General Assembly and
warns Iraq that military action will be unavoidable if it does not comply
with UN resolutions on disarmament.

16 September 2002: UN Secretary General Kofi Annan says he has received a
letter from the Iraqi Government offering to allow the unconditional return
of weapons inspectors.

24 September 2002: Britain publishes a report on Iraq's weapons programmes.

28 September 2002: Iraq rejects a draft UN resolution proposed by the
United States for with strict new rules for weapons inspections, and Oct.1
2002 where Blix comes to an agreement with Saddams about the weapons
inspectors returning but Colin Powell opposed it.


1 October 2002: Hans Blix and Iraq agree practical arrangements for the
return of weapons inspectors. US Secretary of State Colin Powell rejects it
and says the US wants a tough new UN Security Council resolution.

11 October 2002: The US Senate follows the House of Representatives in
authorising President Bush to use force against Iraq.

15 October 2002: Saddam Hussein wins 100% of the vote in a referendum on a
new presidential term for him.

25 October 2002: US formally proposes a new resolution on disarming Iraq to
the UN Security Council.

4 November 2002: Saddam Hussein says Iraq will comply with a new UN
resolution as long as it does not serve as an excuse for US military
action.

8 November 2002: UN Security Council unanimously passes a new resolution on
Iraq's disarmament, warning of "serious consequences" for material
breaches.

12 November 2002: Iraq's parliament rejects the UN resolution.

13 November 2002 Iraq's Government accepts the UN resolution.

18 November 2002: Hans Blix leads UN inspectors back to Baghdad to start
their mission.


>
> Cuba is an entirely different issue, with the fundamental difference
> being the fact that a communist state by definition enslaves it's
> population and holds them hostage.

By definition????? The Cuban people are no worse off under castro than
they were under the US backed Batista, except that their economy suffers
from the US embargo. It is interesting that the US uses the embargo to
destroy the Cuban economy and then points to communism as the cause of the
economic situation there.