Iraq talks over weapon inspections
Discussion
This game has already been played.
Saddam will let them in, and the game of ruse, obstruction and clumsy diplomacy will begin again. This will weaken the resolve of the West and buy yet more time for Iraq.
Basically the international community will go "You can't attack him he's willing to co-operate!" but everyone knows that this is a cynical exploit on Iraq's part and the inspection teams will not be given true access.
Saddam will let them in, and the game of ruse, obstruction and clumsy diplomacy will begin again. This will weaken the resolve of the West and buy yet more time for Iraq.
Basically the international community will go "You can't attack him he's willing to co-operate!" but everyone knows that this is a cynical exploit on Iraq's part and the inspection teams will not be given true access.
quote:
Remind me why we wanted to attack Iraq again?
Because in a world of mad buggers, their glorious leader makes a damn good play for king twat. Things to bear in mind ... Iraq-Iran war which cost a million lives, annexation of Kuwait, odd missile lobbed at Israel to try to kick-start an all out Arab world versus all comers war. Personal assisination of domestic opponents, testing chemical weapons out on his fellow countrymen as part of his oppression of the marsh arab and kurdish population.
I'd say it was fair to judge him as a serious threat. Question is what do you do about it? Containment is one option. Self preservation is top of his list of priorities. So it is possible that the credible threat of invasion might force his hand and let proper UN inspection in once more. Very few people seem to doubt that the previous UN inspectorate were very effective in their role. But what do you do then? Wait around till he dies of old age?
Another option might be to help local opposition groups overthrow him. (a) we half-promisied to do this last time and then failed to back it up, so little chance that many allies would be found. (b) history suggests valiant grass root support turns into despotic leadership pretty damn quick come the revolution.
Option three. Fail/don't attempt to get a fresh UN mandate. Invade. Probably alienate the entire arab population, plus all your regional friendly governments. Risk getting your own troops gassed. Inadvertently slaughter loads of civilians. Possibly shag your own economy with an oil crisis. Get stuck running the country for 20 years. Destabilise Turkey by stoking up the Kurdish "problem".
Choice seems to be between, a rock, a hard place and a deep hole.
But doing nothing at all is probably at least as bad as any of the options listed above.
Saddam is well hidden these days, as I understand it. If I were him, I would be well hidden too 
No, the real deal here is purely a political agenda. Things aren't going too well for George Duubya back home and lots of Americans are shareholders who are losing fortunes as the market tumbles. Aguably not George's fault, but public opinion will want a fall guy.....
So George Dubbya launches a major overseas offensive against an "evil regime" and all of a sudden Americans see him as the white knight and America as the upholder of all things good and pure.
No, the real deal here is purely a political agenda. Things aren't going too well for George Duubya back home and lots of Americans are shareholders who are losing fortunes as the market tumbles. Aguably not George's fault, but public opinion will want a fall guy.....
So George Dubbya launches a major overseas offensive against an "evil regime" and all of a sudden Americans see him as the white knight and America as the upholder of all things good and pure.
quote:
if they just want saddam is it really that difficult to kill him without having a full blown war???? surely these days of high tech special forces / spies etc etc it cant be hard to kill 1 bloke or do i watch too much tele???
There is a risk that it you kill him his loyal followers will make a martyr out of him
quote
No, the real deal here is purely a political agenda. Things aren't going too well for George Duubya back home and lots of Americans are shareholders who are losing fortunes as the market tumbles. Aguably not George's fault, but public opinion will want a fall guy.....
So George Dubbya launches a major overseas offensive against an "evil regime" and all of a sudden Americans see him as the white knight and America as the upholder of all things good and pure.
This is precisely what it is all about in my mind.
No, the real deal here is purely a political agenda. Things aren't going too well for George Duubya back home and lots of Americans are shareholders who are losing fortunes as the market tumbles. Aguably not George's fault, but public opinion will want a fall guy.....
So George Dubbya launches a major overseas offensive against an "evil regime" and all of a sudden Americans see him as the white knight and America as the upholder of all things good and pure.
This is precisely what it is all about in my mind.
quote:
No, the real deal here is purely a political agenda. Things aren't going too well for George Duubya back home and lots of Americans are shareholders who are losing fortunes as the market tumbles. Aguably not George's fault, but public opinion will want a fall guy.....
Define "aren't going well". The President has a 73+ percent approval rating (depending on what poll you look at)
Most Americans that are "in the market" realize that the accounting irregularities started during "slick Willy's" term while Willy was busy spending all that time investigating MS and getting BJ's in the oval office.
The real issue is, do you want a maniacle megalomaniac to have a nuclear/chemical/biological arsenal that he WILL use on his nieghbors? I don't know maybe the world would be much better if the US just (1)Stopped importing all it's oil and opened up ANWR and (2)let the Arabs sort out all of thier own problems... (sarcasm mode off)
ErnestM
Hey, I'm out in Arab land at the moment, and Good ol' George is *not* flavour of the month. In Saudi there is major boycotting of american product, and the refusal to assist should the US decide to go ahead with an invasion.
I want out, but as another thread clearly demonstrated, there ain't much work back in the UK.
Sparks (banished to Saudi Arabia)
>> Edited by sparks on Saturday 3rd August 13:52
I want out, but as another thread clearly demonstrated, there ain't much work back in the UK.
Sparks (banished to Saudi Arabia)
>> Edited by sparks on Saturday 3rd August 13:52
This has to be a question fore those PHers with military experience.
I genuinely think Saddam needs assassinating but discretely. I'm sure most Arabs hate the psycho bastard but these are very proud people who really don't care for western interference.
So here's the question: could or can western intelligence services, via the SAS for instance, reallistically kill the SOB, probably via some kind of hush, hush Arab joint venture?
It's probably a no brainer though; the Israelis haven't been successful in nailing Arafat over the years and look at Bin Laden - the guy's a ghost!
But I really believe this HAS to be the least-worst way of helping out Iraq and stabilizing the region.
Mind you, Mac's probably dressed up as a camel as we speak, with Commander Skellern bringing up the rear!
I genuinely think Saddam needs assassinating but discretely. I'm sure most Arabs hate the psycho bastard but these are very proud people who really don't care for western interference.
So here's the question: could or can western intelligence services, via the SAS for instance, reallistically kill the SOB, probably via some kind of hush, hush Arab joint venture?
It's probably a no brainer though; the Israelis haven't been successful in nailing Arafat over the years and look at Bin Laden - the guy's a ghost!
But I really believe this HAS to be the least-worst way of helping out Iraq and stabilizing the region.
Mind you, Mac's probably dressed up as a camel as we speak, with Commander Skellern bringing up the rear!
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