U.s. To U.n. Drop Dead

[Turfgrass]

How I would love to see that headline in major American newspapers.

The United Nations is fighting for relevancy after being profoundly embarrassed in Iraq. We?ve been through 17 resolutions over 12 years and a 15-day deadline in 1991 that still had not been enforced in 2003 ? all part of the U.N. record of abject failure. After 12 years of inaction it takes less than a month for the U.S. to solve the Saddam Hussein problem and serve notice on the rest of the world that out-of-control, maniacal dictators are not going to be permitted to develop weapons programs that can be used to terrorize the world.

Now the U.N. wants back in. In an amazing display of arrogance the ponderous Hans Blix has announced that the U.N. weapons inspectors should be allowed back into Iraq immediately to finish their job. To his credit, George Bush has said no. There are coalition troops there and they will be able to do the job, thank you very much.

The U.N. is trying to regain its credibility in the post-Iraq era. We need to remember that the U.N. has been and remains an essentially anti-American institution. Three months ago we were being told that the United States had no right to act against Iraq without the approval of the U.N. There is nothing the world would like better than to see the one superpower out there relegated to nothing more than a political sub-state of the grand and glorious United Nations.

Right now President Bush is trying, for lack of a better expression, to put the U.N. in its place. He needs the American people behind him on this one. It?s time for Americans to put aside their knee-jerk support for the U.N. and to start looking more closely at the structure and history of this dangerous organization.

 

[TheShrimp]

Of course there are absolutely no problems with the "Gang of Three" looking (alone) for evidence of a major reason of our invasion. That seems like a great system. I wonder how anyone can have a problem with that policy.

So, what's the big deal about the UN and Blix going back in? Worse thing that can happen is that they don't find anything and we're doing a pretty good job of that on our own.

They were in there doing inspections, got out when the bombing started, and now want to continue their inspections. Its that easy. Its the flat out arrogance of the Bush administration that is disallowing it, not the arrogance of Blix to want to keep doing what he was doing before we started bombing.

We have ONE thing to be concerned about with the UN being there: that they keep an eye on what we're doing.

 

[Turfgrass]

Our first mistake was to accept Hans Blix as chief inspector, even though the U.S. had been warned that he was clearly opposed to war and was determined to buy time and find excuses for Saddam. [They] then accepted Blix's refusal to hire back any of the experienced inspectors thus further drawing out the process. The process was turned from verifying Iraqi compliance, which put the burden of proof on Saddam, to pursuing United Nations inspections in which case the burden was on the United States.

But you do have an interesting take on the subject. Do you think the U.S. is doing anything that the eyes of the world cannot see through the lens of a camera?

 

[TheShrimp]

...the lens of a camera held by a cameraman approved by the US military and government. Yes I do think that.

And if you don't think they have control over who's doing the reporting, ask Peter Arnett and Geraldo Rivera for their opinion.

I don't know if we'll turn anything up. There are several things that could happen here. . .

1) US finds stuff and we're the only ones there.

- like it or not, there's going to be a lot of people who don't believe us.

2) UN goes and finds stuff.

- US is happy. UN is happy. International community is more satisfied.

3) UN goes and doesn't find anything.

- we continue to flame blix and the UN for being anti-american, lazy, ineffective because we just so damn sure WMD are in Iraq.

4) US snoops around and doesn't find anything.

- well, we've done enough PR about Iraqi Freedom and "stabilization" and whatnot so that this isn't a MASSIVE PR failure, but it's still not going to look good.

But, the fact of the matter is, if the US finds WMD on their own, no more people are going to be convinced this was justified then there are now.

The reasons you think the UN and Blix will never find anything are the same reason that others are convinced that the US will "find" something.

Honestly, I don't care about WMD at this point. What's that going to do, justify a war we already had? The main thing is getting Iraq out of the shit storm they're in right now.

 

[Turfgrass]

What about the camera's not from the US...

But point well taken...and I do agree.

 

[Pujo21]

He's digging for gold

He's digging for gold

BLIX wants back in cause he knows there is " HARD CASH " to be found amongst other goodies. You think he really cares about weapons at this point.?

 

[djv]

I was not BS-ing you guys when I said it's a lock we will find WMD in Iraq. We know just where they are. Powell and Rummy already told all of us they were right there cant miss them. We just been so busy busy we forgot to look those places. Look were not going to find tons of chit. He got rid most of it long time ago. Maybe 91/92. We will find just enough to get by. And yes the media will be called in seconds to come a running. It's there alread in a truck if needed to be found. May never have come from Iraq but so what.
What im worried about is very real. The vials of chit taken from that chemical lab that no one found. I would guess most of that is already on the black market. Have you noticed how they have stopped talking about it. Just a little small box, maybe some antrax, and other items. No one sure what they were. We marked out that lab as a must get to. But didn't even guard it till it was to late. Like the museum left for looting. But the oil ministry bldg was guarded at once. Priorties llok to be Oil. Then Saddam gang. Then WMD. Then people. Those people that keep yelling US go home.
Hell yes let inspectors back in they were doing a job. War started they had to leave like any smart person would have. Let them go back and to there work. Who cares how long it takes. We have not found a thing yet. Get all the help you can.

 

[Hoops]

Report: U.S. Planners Underestimated Iraqi Shi'ites!

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. officials plotting the future of Iraq (news - web sites) underestimated the organizational strength of the Shi'ite majority and are not prepared to prevent the rise of an anti-American, Islamic fundamentalist government, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday.

The newspaper, quoting Bush administration officials, reported that U.S. intelligence reports reaching top officials throughout the government this week said the Shi'ites appear to be much more organized than was thought. Shi'ites make up about 60 percent of the Iraqi population and were oppressed for decades under the rule of ousted President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites).

In a show of political strength, hundreds of thousands of Shi'ite Muslims filled the holy city of Kerbala on Tuesday in a long-banned pilgrimage marked by religious fervor and chants of "Yes to Islam, No to America."

A meeting of generals and admirals at the Pentagon (news - web sites) on Monday turned into a spontaneous teach-in on Iraq's Shi'ites and the U.S. strategy for containing Islamic fundamentalism in Iraq, the article said.

U.S. officials said this week that as the administration plotted to overthrow Saddam Hussein's government, too little attention was paid to the dynamics of religion and politics in the region. They also said the administration failed to fully appreciate the force of Shi'ite aspirations and is now concerned that those sentiments could lead to a fundamentalist government, the newspaper reported.

"It is a complex equation, and the U.S. government is ill-equipped to figure out how this is going to shake out," a State Department official told The Washington Post. "I don't think anyone took a step backward and asked, 'What are we looking for?' The focus was on the overthrow of Saddam Hussein."

According to the newspaper, some U.S. intelligence analysts and Iraq experts said they warned the Bush administration before the war about overthrowing Hussein's government without having anything to replace it. But officials told the newspaper the concerns were either not heard or were low on the priority list of postwar planning.

"We're flying blind on this. It's a classic case of politics and intelligence," Walter Lang, a former Defense Intelligence Agency specialist in Middle Eastern affairs, was quoted as saying. "In this case, the policy community have absolutely whipped the intel community, or denigrated it so much."

 

[djv]

How Washington could under estimate is amazing. Chit we had 8 to 10 folks right here that call this problem out before the first bomb fell. What a fuc//// mess we will have after a war many said. These folks hate Saddam many said. But remember they hate us just as bad. May need to have to states some have said. Kurds in the north and everyone else gets the south. Still could happen. We pull out tomorrow and civil war starts in 24 hours.
Git our boys out of there and let someone else suffer.