Rudy: Dems Will Flip-Flop On Iraq Again
Dave Price
Rudy's a fighter, as this exemplifies:
LONDONDERRY, N.H. (AP) - Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani said Monday that two of the Democratic candidates will change their minds again about the Iraq war and agree that it was the right decision.Three, with Syria in the mix now as well. The Syrian experience suggests, given that many analysts still believe Iraq was seeking uranium in Africa and was certainly concealing elements of the former nuke program, Saddam probably had a continuing interest in acquiring nukes and may have been able to import the technology from N Korea as Syria did, especially as support for sanctions was crumbling.
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"Suppose Hillary Clinton and John Edwards' new position was their position back then, that it was a mistake to take him out," Giuliani said, referring to former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. "Wouldn't we be dealing with Saddam Hussein becoming nuclear right now? If Iran was becoming nuclear what would he be doing? Sitting there letting his arch enemy gain nuclear power over him? Or would we now be dealing with two countries seeking to become nuclear powers."
After eight years of a fumbling, overly accomodating Bush administration, Rudy's articulate pugnacity may give Dems fits.
The sanctions were international, and had already begun to fall apart. Sadly, the President only has limited influence over how well an international sanctions system will work.
Yes, because we overthrew Saddam.
Its' worth noting that Iraq was hoping to someday loosen the sanctions regime to the point that they could begin to think about putting together their programs
They were collapsing in 2003.
Only if the administration was going to weaken the sanctions.
"The administration?" Who do you think administered the international sanctions on Iraq? (Hint: the U.S. has had sanctions on Iran for some time now, and they are buying all sorts of wonderful weapons)
Such as an American city getting nuked.
I wonder if he is aware that the CIA was caught completely by surprise when the Indians detonated their nukes.
Bush sold the war wrong: Focused too much on potential WMD's, not enough on the breaking of the ceasefire agreement of 1991, the UN resolutions saddam ignored, his support of terrorists (suicide bombers in Israel), his shooting at our aircraft, etc.
Clinton should have taken out Saddam in the mid 90's, had he done so we'd be capable of taking out Iran right now.
Liberals love to believe we live in a peaceful, logical world. Sorry, we live in a jungle, controlled by the laws of the jungle. It's eat or be eaten. Now is the time to eat Iran, BEFORE they get their dirty hands on nukes. They must be made an example of, that's the only way people in that part of the world with that mentality will chose to change their ways.
Hindsight is, as they say, 20/20. And WE KNOW THAT SADDAM WASN'T WORKING ON A NUKE PROGRAM!!!
The results are in. The doves were right. We hawks were wrong. This should cast doubts on all future hawkish endeavors.
Whether he had an active nuke program was never the question. The question was whether he still wanted one, and would have pursued one when sanction collapsed -- and the evidence says he did, and would have.
The doves were right. We hawks were wrong.
About what? We invaded because Saddam was not disclosing what he did with his WMD. That we haven't found them doesn't mean they never existed (just ask the Kurds) or that they, too, didn't end up in Syria.
Saddam also wanted Iran to think he had WMD's, he also had a history of lying about WMD's, also did not answer questions to the satisfaction of the IAEA.
Bush made a big mistake by using WMD's as the main justification. No doubt about that. Bush should have said "we suspect he's working on a WMD program". A minor change in how he sold the war would of been ideal.
But the evidence is that Saddam wanted to restart his program as soon has he could get rid of the sanctions. The evidence is he never cooperated. He lied, cheated, etc.
He got exactly what he deserved.
Bush sold it wrong, but the war was justified.
"This should cast doubts on all future hawkish endeavors."
Yeah, let us act like the Europeans from now on. Let us ignore Germany rearming in violation of the WWI treaty, talk about peace, hand over another countries territory to evil and hope that will satisfy them. Hey, Neville Chamberlain's strategy sure worked out well, eh?
When you're life is in danger, I'm sure you won't call upon 'hawks' to help you. I'm sure you'll solve it diplomatically. Even if you're facing a strung out, raping, convict, illegal alien who intends to rape your wife and kill you, I'm SURE you won't act like a hawk and use violence. Especially preemptive violence by shooting him as he climbs thru your window, before you have a nice conversation with him to determine his intentions. I know you won't act like a hypocrite, because folks like you NEVER do such as thing.
The resolution cited many factors to justify the use of military force against Iraq:
Iraq's noncompliance with the conditions of the 1991 cease fire, including interference with weapons inspectors.
Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction, and programs to develop such weapons, posed a "threat to the national security of the United States and international peace and security in the Persian Gulf region."
Iraq's "brutal repression of its civilian population."
Iraq's "capability and willingness to use weapons of mass destruction against other nations and its own people".
Iraq's hostility towards the United States as demonstrated by the 1993 assassination attempt of former President George H. W. Bush, and firing on coalition aircraft enforcing the no-fly zones following the 1991 Gulf War.
Members of al-Qaeda were "known to be in Iraq."
Iraq's "continu[ing] to aid and harbor other international terrorist organizations," including anti-United States terrorist organizations.
The efforts by the Congress and the President to fight terrorists, including the September 11th, 2001 terrorists and those who aided or harbored them.
The authorization by the Constitution and the Congress for the President to fight anti-United States terrorism.
Citing the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998, the resolution reiterated that it should be the policy of the United States to remove the Saddam Hussein regime and promote a democratic replacement.
Among the captured documents of the Iraqi Intelligence Services is a memo written in Arabic that describes pre-war intel from an Iraqi source working in Syria. Dated July 13, the memo itself was written after the invasion, but it describes the movement of trucks from Iraq into Syria just before the American invasions.
There is no UN resolution that says they are.
Syria is an honest, reliable, democratic country.
Syria has publicly said they are not pursuing WMD's.
And human history shows that people like those in Syria's government are honest, reliable, good people.
Therefore we should not assume the worst until our families have been killed. And then we should seek permission from the UN before taking action.
Hawks like you should be prevented from the use of unjustified violence. A good place to being would be by outlawing firearms. Michael Moore's documentary has demonstrated that a lack of firearms makes for safer countries.
You're right, what was I thinking.
Your visionary plan will achieve peace in our time. Let's all just go home and get a nice quiet sleep.
Ahh ha ha ha!!
Andrew probably didn't catch that one.
War, war, war. The solution to every world problem is war.
You sound like ten year old playground bully. If we elect someone like Giuliani, who knows about as much about foreign policy and national security as the typical playground bully, then we can look forward to an endless future of wars until we have completely bankrupted the country.
If you have read your history, you will know that is almost precisely what happened to almost every other dominate super power in world history. You would think that men would learn from history, but playground bullies seldom bother studying, so I guess they are doomed to lead us down the path into the dustbin of history.
Of course we all lose our tempers now and then. Dean freely admits to being imperfect in this regard, which is why regulars to this establishment will generally be cut more slack than people who we don't know very well.
Still: behave like an adult, or go find somewhere else to play. Thanks.