The search for WMD

[RavenHawk]

This tickles me to no end to think that this administration is about to invade Syria because they think that Assad used WMD?? WTF!?

This is just food for thought, but do you think that what is going on in Syria would have come about if we stayed entrenched in Iraq? Would Iran have restarted her enriching program? Would the Muslim Brotherhood have risen to power in Egypt?

Would Bin Laden still be alive providing us intel? Would Neda still be alive if Obama had not spoke in Cairo in 2009?

Of course I’m willing to look at it from the other direction. Would any of this have happened if we didn’t invade Iraq? I’m pretty confident that it would be an even worse scenario. With Saddam's Iraq and Khamenei’s Iran in a nuclear arms race, we’ve been very lucky that that never happened. Saddam considering that he was the new Saladin and Khamenei believing that Iran was paving the way for the Mahdi, presents the kind of mindset we are dealing with. It’s not going to change and it isn’t going to go away.

[+and-then]

This tickles me to no end to think that this administration is about to invade Syria because they think that Assad used WMD?? WTF!?

This is just food for thought, but do you think that what is going on in Syria would have come about if we stayed entrenched in Iraq? Would Iran have restarted her enriching program? Would the Muslim Brotherhood have risen to power in Egypt?

Would Bin Laden still be alive providing us intel? Would Neda still be alive if Obama had not spoke in Cairo in 2009?

Of course I'm willing to look at it from the other direction. Would any of this have happened if we didn't invade Iraq? I'm pretty confident that it would be an even worse scenario. With Saddam's Iraq and Khamenei's Iran in a nuclear arms race, we've been very lucky that that never happened. Saddam considering that he was the new Saladin and Khamenei believing that Iran was paving the way for the Mahdi, presents the kind of mindset we are dealing with. It's not going to change and it isn't going to go away.

As I recall there were weeks where convoys of trucks were seen heading across the border from Iraq to Syria just prior to the war beginning. No proof it was WMD being relocated but there's no proof it WASN'T either. The real irony would be if the stuff they just used was Iraqi in origin.

[lightly]

As I recall there were weeks where convoys of trucks were seen heading across the border from Iraq to Syria just prior to the war beginning. No proof it was WMD being relocated but there's no proof it WASN'T either. The real irony would be if the stuff they just used was Iraqi in origin.

... Chemical weapons have a shelf life of from 3 to 5 years. That boogey man died years and years ago.

http://www.alternet.org/story/15854/lies_about_iraq%26%23146%3Bs_weapons_are_past_expiration_date

"

most bio/chemical agents have a rather limited shelf life. The few who do usually quote Scott Ritter, former UN Iraqi weapons inspector and controversial opponent of Dubyas drive to Baghdad.

According to Ritter, the chemical weapons which Iraq has been known to possess -- nerve agents like sarin and tabun -- have a shelf life of five years, VX just a bit longer. Saddam's major bio weapons are hardly any better; botulinum toxin is potent for about three years, and liquid anthrax about the same (under the right conditions). And he adds that since all chemical weapons were made in Iraq's only chemical weapons complex the Muthanna State establishment, which was blown up during the first Gulf War in 1991 -- and all biological weapons plants and research papers were clearly destroyed by 1998, any remaining bio/chemical weapons stores are now harmless, useless goo.

Edited August 29, 2013 by lightly

[+and-then]

... Chemical weapons have a shelf life of from 3 to 5 years. That boogey man died years and years ago.

http://www.alternet....expiration_date

"

most bio/chemical agents have a rather limited shelf life. The few who do usually quote Scott Ritter, former UN Iraqi weapons inspector and controversial opponent of Dubya’s drive to Baghdad.

According to Ritter, the chemical weapons which Iraq has been known to possess -- nerve agents like sarin and tabun -- have a shelf life of five years, VX just a bit longer. Saddam's major bio weapons are hardly any better; botulinum toxin is potent for about three years, and liquid anthrax about the same (under the right conditions). And he adds that since all chemical weapons were made in Iraq's only chemical weapons complex – the Muthanna State establishment, which was blown up during the first Gulf War in 1991 -- and all biological weapons plants and research papers were clearly destroyed by 1998, any remaining bio/chemical weapons stores are now “harmless, useless goo.”

I'll take your word for that. As an aside though... it doesn't alter the proposition of what might have been on those trucks, does it? As I said, no way to know. What we DO know is that chemicals were used by someone with access and knowledge of how to use them. It seems unlikely to me that the rebels - a ragtag group of guys with no real command structure or specialized training - could have pulled off such an attack without killing very many of their own fellows. Having said that - I have NO horse in this race. I just don't want to see any more defenseless women and children who have died screaming for clean air. Have you ever had real trouble breathing, Lightly? Not to single you out or attack you, but I HAVE had such problems and it is the most horrific sensation you can imagine - I imagine it must be what drowning is like, only slower - and with no water involved. I shudder to think how those people suffered.

[lightly]

Howdy and then, I have had some breathing problems , and a few , episodes that were pretty scary. Sorry to hear you have experience in that too.

Anyway, Ya, chemical weapons use, by anyone, is completely out of bounds. My suspicious nature makes me wonder about something though.. do you know who filmed or presented those videos of recent Syrian victims ? For all i know that could be old footage ..of something somewhere . .. silly thought maybe... i just don't trust what i'm being told anymore.