[blankall]

Originally Posted by Lanny_MacDonald

"I'm looking for the man that tried to shoot my pa!"

Yeah, that's a reasonable response for the leader of the most powerful nation on the planet. Great way of formulating foreign policy too. Not even Bush is that big an idiot to consider attempting to even a score putting the nation's sons and daughters in the military at risk, and the billions of dollars it would take to execute.

I think it definitely influenced the Republican party against Saddam.

Originally Posted by Lanny_MacDonald

Gonna need a link on that one. Again, sounds more like Iran. Hussein knew he was in no position to provoke the United States.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2846365.stm
Saddam directly financing suicide bombings. The article mentions Israel specifically, but I'll try and find one that also includes the Western targets.

Originally Posted by Lanny_MacDonald

There is no doubt that they played games with the inspectors, but so does every country that gets inspected, including the United States. In fact, the United States has refused inspections for missle treaties more than any other nation. Seems the Americans believe they should be "trusted" but they refuse to extend the same "trust" to others. Funny how that works.

I will agree with you on that. There are lots of double standards around the world. As a defeated nation Iraq had to accept that.

Originally Posted by Lanny_MacDonald

Actualy, that is Iran. Hussein would pay homage to martyrs, but would not overtly harass Israel except to call them names and make political statements.

Well Iraq did launch many missiles into Israel during the gulf war. On top of that it was part of several arab coalitions that tried to invade Israel. Also see the above link aobut funding suicide bombers. Currently Iran is not such a big fan of Israel either (although prior to the Iranian Revolution they were close allies), but I dont think you can say that Iraq was not an enemy of Israel.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/396885.stm

This article shows how Saddam called for Israel's destructions and that the Jews should leave or accept arab rule. He also calls for an arab wide boycott of sales of oil to the US.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/956084.stm
In this article he outright threatens Israel. This quote pretty much sums up the situation prior to invasion:
"Iraq has also been calling for a holy war to liberate Jerusalem from Israeli control. President Saddam Hussein has said Iraq did not need to wait for sanctions to be lifted before striking Israel.
The United States says it closely monitors Iraq for any signs of military activity, but United Nations inspectors looking for Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction have not been in the country for nearly two years now."




Basically, my argument is this. There are much cheaper ways of securing oil than invading Iraq. Many other countries have more of it. Saddam Hussein did not fit the vision that the Republican party had for the middle east and the climate at the time made it opportune for his removal.

edit: I should also add that there had been ongoign military action in Iraq since the gulf war.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/467891.stm
"Since December more than 25,000 sorties have been flown to enforce the controversial no-fly zones over the north and south of the country. In the north alone, more than 1,000 bombs have been dropped on 250 different targets." This was in December of 1999, well before the US invasion.

Maybe the US just got tired of having to police Iraq constantly.