{"id":3175,"date":"2015-11-16T23:25:21","date_gmt":"2015-11-17T06:25:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scotshonor.com\/?p=3175"},"modified":"2015-11-16T23:25:21","modified_gmt":"2015-11-17T06:25:21","slug":"rethinking-iraq","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scotshonor.com\/?p=3175","title":{"rendered":"RETHINKING IRAQ"},"content":{"rendered":"

The conventional wisdom, among both Democrats and Republicans, is that the Iraq war was an enormous blunder.\u00a0 A lot of people, who should know better, pompously opine that we would be better off with Saddam Hussein still in power.\u00a0 All they really display is gross ignorance of history.\u00a0 The U.S. did try to use Saddam Hussein as a buffer against Iran from 1980 to 1988 with horrible results:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.history.com\/topics\/iran-iraq-war<\/a><\/p>\n

The protracted war between these neighboring Middle Eastern countries resulted in at least half a million casualties and several billion dollars\u2019 worth of damages, but no real gains by other side. Started by Iraq dictator Saddam Hussein in September 1980, the war was marked by indiscriminate ballistic-missile attacks, extensive use of chemical weapons and attacks on third-country oil tankers in the Persian Gulf.\u00a0<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Does anyone in their right mind want to return to this scenario?\u00a0 Does anyone really think Saddam Hussein would have just let Iran get a nuke?\u00a0 Please!<\/p>\n

There is also little room for doubt with regard to a relationship between al Qaeda and Iraq. Following is from the November 6, 1998 Grand Jury indictment of Osama bin Laden.\u00a0 The President of the United States at the time was William Jefferson Clinton.<\/p>\n

In addition, al Qaeda reached an understanding with the government of\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Iraq that al Qaeda would not work against that government and that on\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>particular projects, specifically including weapons development<\/u>, al\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Qaeda would work cooperatively with the Government of Iraq.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The 9-11 Commission report explains why Bill Clinton authorized a cruise missile strike on the al Shifa (“aspirin factory”) plant in the Sudan:\u00a0 Following is from Page 117:<\/p>\n

the CIA reported that a soil sample from the vicinity of the al Shifa plant had tested positive for EMPTA, a precursor chemical for VX, a nerve gas whose lone use was for mass killings.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

President Clinton, Vice President Gore, Berger, Tenet and Clarke all told the 9-11 Commission that they still believed that CIA report was accurate.<\/p>\n

The Weekly Standard provided more details about this incident in an article dated December 29, 2003<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.weeklystandard.com\/Content\/Public\/Articles\/000\/000\/003\/527uwabl.asp<\/a><\/p>\n

For nearly two years, starting in 1996, the CIA monitored the al Shifa pharmaceutical plant in Khartoum, Sudan. The plant was known to have deep connections to Sudan’s Military Industrial Corporation, and the CIA had gathered intelligence on the budding relationship between Iraqi chemical weapons experts and the plant’s top officials. The intelligence included information that several top chemical weapons specialists from Iraq had attended ceremonies to celebrate the plant’s opening in 1996. And, more compelling, the National Security Agency had intercepted telephone calls between Iraqi scientists and the plant’s general manager.<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The clincher, however, came later in the spring of 1998, when the CIA secretly gathered a soil sample from 60 feet outside of the plant’s main gate. The sample showed high levels of O-ethylmethylphosphonothioic acid, known as EMPTA, which is a key ingredient for the deadly nerve agent VX. A senior intelligence official who briefed reporters at the time was asked which countries make VX using EMPTA. “Iraq is the only country we’re aware of,” the official said. “There are a variety of ways of making VX, a variety of recipes, and EMPTA is fairly unique.”<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

So how bad is VX?\u00a0 Following the 1995 terrorist attack using Sarin\u00a0gas on the Tokyo subway experts said if the terrorist had disbursed the Sarin more efficiently they could have killed tens of thousands of people VX is 100 times more dangerous than Sarin.<\/p>\n

I have asked many of my liberal friends a simple question:\u00a0 \u201cIf the U.S. believed that Saddam Hussein was providing Osama bin Laden with access to VX Nerve gas, would that justify invading Iraq.\u201d \u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Iraq admitted that it had produced 3.9 tons of VX.\u00a0 Two hundred tons of VX could literally wipe out mankind.\u00a0 A large stockpile of chemical or biological weapons does not necessarily take up a lot of physical space.\u00a0 The amount of Sarin used in the Tokyo subway incident consisted of small packages wrapped in a newspaper.\u00a0 Each perpetrator carried two packages totaling about .9 liters of Sarin.\u00a0 One perpetrator had three packages totalling approximately 1.3 liters.\u00a0 All of this would have easily fit in a small suitcase.<\/p>\n

In fact, there wouldn\u2019t necessarily be any stockpiles of the final product.\u00a0 VX is so dangerous that the preferred form is binary VX, comprised of two sets of chemicals that are not mixed until the last possible minute.<\/p>\n

So the next time some liberal, or a Donald Trump or Bill O’Reilly huffs and puffs about how the Iraq war was a huge mistake ask them a question.\u00a0 \u201cIf you were President of the United States and you had intelligence indicating that Iraq was providing VX to al Qaeda, what would you do? Would you be willing to risk allowing terrorists to have access to VX or a similar chemical or biological weapon?\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

George W. Bush pointed out that we would always have some level of terrorism, but the real danger would be if terrorists got their hands on WMD.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t the only one who believed that.\u00a0 Following is from a speech given by Al Gore in February 2002:<\/p>\n

Even if we give first priority to the destruction of terrorist networks, and even if we succeed, there are still governments that could bring us great harm. And there is a clear case that one of these governments in particular represents a virulent threat in a class by itself: Iraq.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

This was just a few short months after 9-11.\u00a0 Al Gore wasn\u2019t exactly getting national security briefings from the Bush administration. \u00a0He came to this conclusion based on intelligence he reviewed during his two terms as Vice President of the United States.<\/p>\n

Now remind me of how George W. Bush got this so wrong.\u00a0 Please explain to me why we would be so much safer if Saddam Hussein was still in power.<\/p>\n

TDM<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The conventional wisdom, among both Democrats and Republicans, is that the Iraq war was an enormous blunder.\u00a0 A lot of people, who should know better, pompously opine that we would be better off with Saddam Hussein still in power.\u00a0 All … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-headlines"],"yoast_head":"\nRETHINKING IRAQ - SCOTS HONOR<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/scotshonor.com\/?p=3175\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"RETHINKING IRAQ - 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